Ancient Memories
by Excaliburswrath
Summary: A journal written from an OC's perspective covering the events of my other work, It's Not Over.  This details what would have been the revised version.  This is what ISNO follows, rather than the mess of INO, rated just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: These first few entries are going to be fairly short, as well as a few in the middle. I tried to lengthen it but I ended up mostly rewording the thing. I think it flows a bit better now than it did before.

If anything this work is going to really let you know exactly how Zero ticks, how he views the world with his experience and how he handles everything that happens. If anything, first person from Zero is one of the most fun things I've ever written.

Hope you all enjoy, read and review!

**Entry 00** _New dispatch Orders_

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><p>I had to run out and get a new journal. I didn't realize how close I was to filling out my last one. I abridged the last bits of the mission to make it fit when I got back, no use breaking up a short assignment like that over 2 books.<p>

Immediately upon my return from Heaven's Gate I received my next mission. Didn't even make it home this time. The life of an Ancient is a busy one... I wish I could have spent a little more time with Chris but... This one is big. This one is personal. It's a rare day when the Magi actually give you the chance for this kind of revenge.

Seight was killed on her last mission. The Magi decided to let me finish up since we're. Since we were so close. Thinking further, my previous statement is a little off. I shouldn't be seeking revenge against The Origin, killing angels is just what he does. The Magi are the one that sent her off, alone, to storm his lair. I wish I could have been there when Hector finally got what was coming to him. It's been fairly obvious what he's been doing, but the Magi would never turn on their own. It was only a matter of time before he pissed someone off that was either too strong, or too stubborn to give up. To think that an ordinary Grim Angel would be capable of killing a Magi. Maybe I could take the rest of them... Throat almost tore itself inside out at that thought. If I wasn't their slave... I probably would have snapped thousands of years ago...

Regardless, I've been ordered to finish up Seight's mission. Honestly, I don't have high hopes for myself. As damaged as he is, The Origin is still completely capable of destroying an Ancient One, even without all his little minions. I might be able to take him though. I mean, only two of us are still around now. That's a sickening thought. Just me and Agreth? Hah. I guess our workload just increased. Again. Hopefully the bastard won't get himself killed, I'm already busy enough as is. Oh, who am I kidding, he's going to bite it before I do. He still hasn't figured out that fighting fair is pointless. Frightening concept. Being alone. I suppose it's not too much different than now. But. Even if I'm the last Ancient. I still have Chris. I still have my son.

I've yet to be debriefed on what exactly this mission is, or all the details relating to my departure. I'll have to wait and see till tomorrow if I'm actually going this all alone. Maybe they'll have enough sense to put me up with Agreth. Or at least an Arcane Angel. Maybe even Kazé.

They might force me to stop by Riviera to check on things, might even have me deal with the Angel down there. What was his name? Ein? Even if they don't, I might just ask him for help. I mean. He DID kill Hector. He's got to be at least decently strong. Although that might not be enough for The Origin. He's a step above the Magi. There's a reason they send us angels out to fight instead of dealing with their own problems.

Speaking of, Kazé wasn't thrilled when I told them all this. He doesn't want me to die, and deep down I don't either. He said I should tell Chris about Seight. I considered it, but honestly, I'd rather him go on thinking his mother is on a mission for at least a little longer. I know I can't keep it from him forever, but I just want him to be happy... Kazé also wondered why I wasn't terribly upset. I'm sure what to tell him. Ancient Ones like Seight and I know that we're going to die in combat against some horrible evil. I mean, Seight was going against The Origin's forces, after their last battle with her, this outcome was inevitable. I decided NOT to look at the post-conflict projections. I didn't want to see a woman that I'd loved torn to ribbons and then have to know one day I'd have to tell Chris what happened to her. It's better that we not know, for all of us.

I think I've got a reason why I'm not telling Chris. I remember when Seight's parents died. What it did to her. I don't want to see that happen to Chris. Not now anyway... At least Chris has parents to be upset over. Both he and his mother are children of Ancient Ones. I... I was one of the first. I was created, not born. No parents. No grief. No love. It took me a while to figure out love from Seight. She taught me so many things. I never got to pay her back. War breeds regret I suppose.

After a good night's rest I'll be informed of my mission specs and will most likely have to leave immediately. I'll keep writing when I have an update.

-**_Ø_**-

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><p>Like I said, shorter entries at first. It picks up around Entry 03 if I remember right. I'll try to lengthen the rest of them.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Still haven't hit chapter 1 of It isn't Over quite yet. These first two entries are just a bit of background. I'm keeping Zero's past a bit vague for a few reasons. 1: He'd only bring things up when rambling or if it's relevant. 2: He's already written about it in previous journals, making it slightly redundant. 3: He doesn't want to remember a lot of it.

For those who care in the slightest I've also renamed most of the villains. I'll get to who they equate to when we reach them but for now Scath is the only one that's been mentioned, I also include a few more things from the games in this than in the original. They still won't be quite as proactive as I'd prefer but that's a rant for another time.

**Entry 01 **_ Mission Details and Dispatch report._

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><p>Well. That was unexpected. Unexpected and mean spirited. Even for the Magi. They must be unhappy with my performance and are punishing me.<p>

Let's start from the top, shall we? My partner is a young Angel named Leon. Now, I've been used to train newer angels before, but... I know this kid, probably better than he knows himself at this point. I was fairly close to his father before Leon's brother dipped a little too far into forbidden magics in an attempt to bring his lover back to life. The kid had no idea what he was doing and got possessed by a Greater Demon named Scath. Yeah. A _Greater Demon. _If the information I've gotten on Scath is correct, he works as a General under The Origin. Apparently Leon pissed the Magi off too. When he first took over Scath, in rapid succession, killed Leon's father, maimed Leon, and took a good chunk out of my shoulder before I could chase him off. Leon seems to have repressed his memories of this, and honestly I don't blame him. It's possible that he was just too young to remember but it's far more likely that deep down he remembers but he's bottled it up and shoved it so far into the dark that he can't even consciously remember any of it.

They didn't even have the decency to call him into the meeting. They made me deliver the orders personally. Needless to say his mother wasn't thrilled. She sent Leon to go upstairs and pack before asking me what I was going to do. I'd already made up my mind long before she asked. When Leon knows the whole truth I'll let him decide. She said I shouldn't tell him right away, that it would cloud his judgment and get him killed. I agree with her, but that could lead to trust issues if he figures it out without me telling him. He should at least see what Scath really is before I tell him whats underneath that monster's face. Let him weigh all of his options.

When he finished packing a sack he came downstairs and we left immediately. We had a long trip through heaven's gate and Riviera itself ahead of us. I'd already decided that Leon needed to be trained in order for him to be able to deal with Scath and Heaven's Gate being infested with demons (Again) gave me a good opportunity to see how the kid fights.

He isn't a bad fighter, just not nearly good enough to contend with things like The Origin. It'll take some doing to make him useful in a fight that level but I think with enough time I'll be able to pull it off.

Even though I made a fuss about Heaven's Gate being infested for around the 4 millionth time I did notice that there were considerably less demons than usual. Whatever Ein and his cohorts is doing is working better than Asgard's "Murder and rape anything that isn't the Magi" Policy. Then again, I'd imagine finding something more effective than THAT wouldn't be too hard. I admit, I have to respect the guy for standing up to Asgard like that. Takes some guts.

We cleared Heaven's gate in about an hour and set up camp Riviera. Leon's been excited since arriving. I'd forgotten that he'd never been outside Asgard proper until this point. This is certainly a better experience than my first trip outside the city walls... We're just inside the outskirts of Nelde... Well I guess it's Nelde Ruins now... Lots of things are ruins now. It's been a few hundred years since I've toured the place. Hector wanted me to find a reason to actuate the Retribution. I thought everything was fine, the sprites had it covered. I guess Hector made up a reason anyway, wouldn't put it past the purple bastard. I'm still not sure if I should be glad that Hector's gone or not. His death certainly didn't help Riviera – Asgard relations but once Agreth reported back from the Maze of Shadows they kind of relaxed their genocidal rage. It certainly didn't hurt when Ein and them killed Hades. The Magi decided to ignore them until things started going badly. No surprise there. Now The Origin is on his way to Asgard through Riviera, they just can't catch a break can they.

I wonder how much I should tell Ein about myself and The Origin. I bet he'll be a little cross if I open up with "I'm an Ancient One, start training, the most powerful being in the universe wants to eat your world." I'll just tell them it's in their best interest to help me.

There was one thing I thought was weird when we first got to Riviera, there was this incomplete black spire thing, it felt like Fallen Ones were near by... I'll need to make sure they aren't trying to start a 5th Holy War, I don't think I could take another one... Anyway, It's getting kind of dark, I'll write again after we contact Ein and his group. Hopefully we can come to an understanding.

-**_Ø_**-

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><p>Look Ma! Foreshadowing! Half decent foreshadowing! It only took me like 6 - 7 years to learn how to do it!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Finally run into the cast of the games! Bet you guys were thinking "This is a Riviera Fanfic right?"

**Entry 02**_ Contact with the Guardian_

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><p>We got a little lost. Thankfully the nearby sprites were more than willing to help. I guess when you aren't trying to murder their world they can be nice. It helped that I have Leon with me. I'm not exactly what you would call "Approachable" or "Good with people." I've been through so many wars, it shows at this point., eye patch, facial scars, gruff demeanor. Kid was happy enough to help, sadly he was half the reason we got lost in the first place. You cannot always turn left and get to where you're going...<p>

Anyway, we made it to Ein's place pretty late, I'm sure we at least delayed dinner if we didn't outright interrupt it. I have one thing to say about Ein's company before I move on, he's either the most innocent man ever or the most skilled player in Riviera's history because he lives with FIVE women. If Nardi had been with us, he would have treated Ein like a student treats a grand master. When I said the hot words "Threat to all living things" and "Must be dealt with immediately before we all die" they agreed to help and invited us in. Ein was a little surprised, I think he figured we were here to get him for killing a Magi. I've probably already made this point but he deserves a medal for that, not an execution. I was rather impressed with Leon. He was so open with the sprites. Hell he was even flirting with a few of them. Kids these days. He was the one that jumped at the chance to have dinner. I could have easily hunted for something but he wouldn't have it. I was also impressed with how balanced Ein's group is. Elementally anyway. They're only missing one element and honestly, darkness won't do us much good in the upcoming fight. Glad I've gotten chance to get a feel of the dynamic I was going to be working with. It's a fairly diverse set of personalities, I bet there was at least a bit strife while the group was forming. Regardless, we have: Ein, issued diviner – one handed sword Einherjar, Element – Holy. Fia, sprite, wields a Rosier, also Holy, she seems to have fallen for Ein. Lina, sprite, Element – Lightning, uses one of Dianna's Bows, annoying. Serene, Arc (the last one apparently) Element – Ice, wields a Scythe... called the Infinite Arc, Leon seems fond of her... I can see why, her weapon choice and element must bring back memories. Cierra, sprite, seems to be the next oldest to me, Witch, Element – Fire, wields a Southern Cross (Where are they getting these weapons?) Seems to hang on my words, too soon. Finally, Rose she _used_ to be Ein's familiar but she's managed to get turned into a human with feline features, I don't think she can fight though, I guess I'll include Leon, Element – Ice/Holy, Grim Angel, issued diviner – Heimdallr, blue/yellow bastard sword, lots of room to grow (Applies to them all really.)

I've got a fairly polished team to work on. They've already fought enough side by side to allow me to skip quite a few lessons. They must have done a lot of training on their own during their quest. I don't know for sure without seeing them fight with my own eyes though.

After we ate a frankly delicious meal, Serene offered to shelter Leon and I for a while. I was a bit off when I assumed the girls all lived in one house. Serene is on her own and Cierra is lodged over at the town's magic guild apparently. Although I would like to build my own home away from home. If this is my last mission, it's going to be comfortable and well furnished. Besides without another house the others would have no place to stay...

I should mention the town, Elendia. I've been here before. One might wonder how I got lost if I've been here with my fairly good sense of direction. Leon. Just Leon. Regardless, the town has grown. It's a forest village built around Yggdrasil the World Tree. I plan on giving Yggdrasil a once over since Ursula is gone now, see how the place is holding up. Ever since the first war we've been using Heaven's gate to travel between worlds instead of going through Yggdrasil. Besides, ever since the Gods passed the place just hasn't been the same. Ein mentioned that Ledah died there. If that's the case I might be able to do something about his death. Yggdrasil is weird with how it handles souls since it basically leads directly directly to the Gods' doorstep. It tends to preserve them in a suspended animation if you will. I could use as many Grim Angels as I can, especially an experienced one like Ledah.

Serene doesn't live too far from the edge of town. I plan on sneaking about tonight to see what all has changed. Noticed a few more of those spires, Investigation pending...

I'm impressed with how non formal these people are with residents of Asgard, especially with me. I'm either not as strong as I think I am, or they can't really tell how strong I am. Ah well, they'll be surprised when It's time for training... That reminds me, I need to find a good training area, if I have to I can flatten out a track of land around Valhalla. I don't want to get to far away from town though.

Getting tired, there are a lot of things I need to investigate or take care of. I'll write tomorrow after I look into a few things, explore the town and such.

-**_Ø_**-

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><p>You might have noticed I also renamed Leon's Diviner. I renamed most every original diviner actually. I used the names of Norse gods to give it a little bit more of a connection to Norse Mythology. In this case, Heimdallr is a wise god that watches for signs of Ragnarok. He's known as "The World Brightener" if I'm not mistaken, Leon's a cheery guy, it fits. As a side note The entries start to pick up in length. Entry 03, following a trend in my writing of the 3rd chapter being really long, is one of the longer entries.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Entry 03** _Explorations and Investigations_

First thing's first, I found a great training spot. It was already flat with some nice natural barriers to prevent us from going really crazy. I had everyone come out as soon as they could so I could see how they fight with my own eyes. I went one on one with everyone, told them to fight at full power and then fought them as a group. Here are the results:

_Round 1_: Leon

Combat performance - Well

Needs work on - He needs to start thinking a bit ahead. Most of the time he'll charge blindly into any situation and get himself mauled. He's not the best when it comes to magic, his style will function a bit better if we mixed both magic and swordplay. He also needs some actual combat experience. This is something the others have over him.

Comments - I fought Leon first because he already knew not to hold back, which allowed me to show everyone else that it would be alright to hit me with everything they've got. I already knew how Leon fights from our stint in Heaven's Gate. I just wanted a demonstration is all.

_Round 2: _Ein

Combat performance – Mild

Needs work on – Everything, He can take a beating but he's lacking in magic and speed, something that has to be addressed. He also needs to train with his Diviner.

Comments – I'm a bit underwhelmed, I bet if I were to endanger one of his friends he would fight a hell of a lot better. Right now I need to work on him learning the lesser techniques of his Diviner. He's got an execution level skill that's strong but unfocused, if I can get him to refine it down I bet he could cut through anything. As a side note I asked why he and Leon wouldn't use Angel Awakening mode despite me telling them to go all out. Their answer? They don't know how to do so..._How did this happen?_ **What is wrong with the Magi now?**

_Round 3:_ Serene

Combat performance – Surprisingly well

Needs work on – Like Leon, thinking before she puts a scythe through something is going to be a must. She's worse than Leon in this regard... Other than that she could use some work on resisting other elements, perhaps learning to use another to broaden her destructive capabilities.

Comments – Serene really surprised me, she is adept at close range combat and getting into close range quickly. And with that scythe it can be a challenge to stay OUT of her range. When I started going too fast to be caught by her wide swings, and the damn glacier she almost hit me with, she immediately switched out for claws and kept up with me by staying airborne. It was easy to see that she was the physical might of the team. She also apparently doesn't give up. Ever. Unlike many angels who, when outmatched, retreat to think of a better plan, Serene just keeps trying to cut her target apart. I'm surprised I didn't have to sever a limb before she gave up.

_Round 4: _Fia

Combat performance – Also surprisingly well

Needs work on – Fia is a sort of jack of all trades, she's got decent short and long range capabilities and is a healer. With some work we can make all of these better, but by far her weakest is destructive magic of any element that isn't Holy. Also she tended to miss when pressured, that will need some work. It wouldn't be a bad thing to have her get better with healing spells either.

Comments – Fia, as I've learned, is the team healer, she fixed herself up twice before she went down. Her healing is inefficient and drains way more energy than it should, but she could probably heal impalement and lost limbs if she really worked at it. Her actual fighting wasn't bad either, she isn't as good as Serene or Leon in close combat but she's way better than them at long range. Apparently she and Lina are decent with bows. A problem appeared when she couldn't land an arrow, or even a sword strike, her fencing style is a bit cumbersome and easily parried.

_Round 5: _Lina

Combat performance – Meh...

Needs work on – Lina is immature, both as a fighter and as a person. This is a fairly big thing that needs to be corrected. She's an archer like I was but she has no backup options if her enemies get to close. Well no _good_ backup options anyway. Teaching her magic would be a waste so we just need to work on her options and durability.

Comments – I am not going to like training Lina due to her aforementioned maturity issues. It isn't going to be easy pointing out her flaws without getting her upset. She also has an... Unusual taste in weaponry. Her Primary weapon is her bow coupled with her natural lightning element to help her accuracy and power. She backs this up with claws like Serene and apparently Scythes, spears, and whips. She didn't use any of those last three but those are some unwieldy weapons for someone her size. I don't know how she apparently _hurls spears_ but whatever. She was good at long to mid range, firing several arrows at once with the ability to alter their trajectory slightly. She also likes to fire in a way that has multiple arrows coming at you from multiple directions. It's a lot of skill but apparently she's older than Fia... Yeah... I thought she was lying until Fia backed her up... **Didn't see that one coming.** I'll have to structure her training carefully. Oh, short range she just swings her arms wildly and hopes to hit something. It didn't work. I can see how this team really works well together already. One last note, Lina shouts "I never miss" entirely too much, I started dodging every shot after the 3rd time I heard this to see if she'd stop. She didn't.

_Round 6: _Cierra

Combat performance – she actually hit me

Needs work on – Cierra is a spellcaster and as such she needs work on some short range options that wont blow her up. She's not too great with swords or rapiers but the fundamentals are there. Not very fast either, will probably put her and Ein through agility training.

Comments – Holy _hell_, I was expecting her to be the most magically gifted of the group but what I got was way past that. I know natural flame element Grim Angels that she's stronger than. This was so out of left field that she, out of everyone, actually caught me in an explosion and burned my arms. Lightly. I immediately healed of course but none of them had hit me until that point. She's very magically gifted despite her ditzy nature and is indeed "Not called the Scarlet Witch for nothing" I can tell she's not used to things surviving being atomized by her spells long enough to get close to her. When I got fed up dodging fire and put up a barrier, she pulled out a book and nearly froze my arm off. Then she pulled out Fia's Rosier and tried to go toe-to-toe with me, throwing off a good bit of holy magic with every swing. Needless to say, this is where things started falling apart for her, but together... This group must be a well oiled machine.

_Round 7: _ The Guardians of Riviera + Leon

Combat performance – Exceedingly well.

Needs work on – I need to get Leon and I integrated into the group mechanic. Also they had a bit of a problem fighting as such a large group, and attacking one at a time.

Comments – I was right, they covered each others' weaknesses quite well. Serene and Ein are good at knowing when to fall back before they get firebombed by Cierra. They do have a bad habit of having only 1 close range fighter acting at a time, but that can be worked on. Leon was let down by having not fought along side these people before but he has a natural talent for reading the flow of battle. He helped correct the one at a time thing too. Normal Demons stand no chance if they're together. They'd even give Greater Demons a run for their money. Well. One Greater Demon. Most of them are well suited for Husks too. If I can integrate myself into this group... Even though they probably don't realize it, with structure and know how they have a lot of room to grow. Thankfully these are two things I can provide

After an eventful morning I checked on Yggdrasil. I think I can bring Ledah back from the brink with some effort. I'll try it tomorrow, with the group joining me of course. Just bringing back their dead companion one night probably would be in bad taste. Plus I need them there to catch him up. Returning like that could be a might traumatic for the guy. Well I suppose it's not technically returning back to life. He's been integrated into Yggdrasil at the base level. It shouldn't be too hard for me to pull him back out and get him back to normal.

When we'd finished lunch I scouted and found a good location for a house. They have a mine called the Crystal Caverns that has a 'magic guild' in it. The location is on top of the mountain the mine is dug into. It has a good overview of the town and is close to the resources I'll need. I'll build it for quite a few people, I might get some family involved to further strengthen the group. Plus this will be a good opportunity for long term training of Chris.

Finally after dinner I checked out the closest spire. It's magic conductive obsidian and completed. It hasn't been touched in a while but what worries me is that this might not be a Fallen One structure. Helheim isn't exactly brimming with this kind of material. It'd probably take the mining of ALL of Helheim to get enough Obsidian to make maybe half of one spire. I've seen 3 complete ones fairly close to Yggdrasil and a partial one near Heaven's Gate. I know who likes this material though. The Origin's taking advantage of Asgard's lack of concern for Riviera. Reason 2 why I need the whole family. I'll have to send a note to Asgard in the morning to get them on this.

I'm going to hammer out training schedules for everyone. They all need to work on different things so it'll be a bit tough for just me but I think I can manage. I'll probably need to redo them if I do have the others come in to help. Just Kazé helping would be a huge help. Hopefully the Origin won't launch an offensive any time soon.

On a last note Cierra has a crush on me, Leon and Serene are becoming close, and Ein and Fia are completely in love without having really acknowledged this fact... somehow. I bet the addition of Ledah or Nardi will make this relationship business get even more complicated. Love while you can, fight when you must I guess. I need to let Cierra down gentle. I doubt she understands the age gap between us. Sieght also had the benefit of being almost as strong as I am, which is a bit of a requirement with all the dangerous missions I have to go on. I remember when we first met, right after her dad was killed. Kain was a good angel, and a better friend. We were still fresh angels and were often grouped together by chance. We managed to survive our first few missions and got teamed up to take out a stronghold in the Origin's army. There were only ten of us and when the Dark God himself crashed the party we were picked apart. Kain, Veira and I had been the vanguard. The fortress had a nice army of Demons and Greater Demons guarding it so the 3 of us tore a way through so everyone else could get in and blow the place apart. I thought the strike team would be fine without us. They had angels that seemed much stronger than myself. I figured we'd go out in a blaze of glory, taking most of the army with us. I was as surprised as everyone else when we actually won. The Origin wasn't too thrilled with us. He came out, covered in our comrades blood and the 3 of us bolted. He was just too fast though. He got Veira first, plucked her arms off and impaled her on her own Diviner. We'd almost made it back to the return point when he caught up with us again. I told Kain to hurry and run but he wouldn't leave without me. We were savaged. The bastard tore my wings off and nearly ripped me in half. Kain was way worse. I can't even think on what happened to him even now. We hung on for as long as we could and eventually The Origin just stopped caring and left. Kain told me to go if I could, and to help his daughter. I was the only one who could move so I made a hard choice and left him to his fate, made it to the return point and back to Asgard proper. After treatment I gave my report. Sieght barged in and wanted to know why her daddy was dead and not me. Aaaand then word got in that her mother's squad had gotten devastated by Surtr. She fell apart right then and there, latched onto the closest living thing and cried. I was that thing, and it hurt. It was a pain I could barely imagine, but it was impossible not to feel it. She was only a few years old but but so was I. We had only been created 10 years back. I haven't changed in the slightest, never have, never will. Anyway I decided to do as Kain had wanted and took her in. Eventually we grew to be very close...

Enough story time, I know I've already covered these events in detail but I'm leaving this notebook here. Should be something interesting for Chris to read immediately after my death. Kazé and Nardi know where I keep the rest of these things.

Long day. Longer entry. I'll write after I revive Ledah and work out where he fits into this mess.

**_-Ø-_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Entry 04 **_Revival x Reunions_

I expected them to be happy that I could bring Ledah back, but Ein nearly deafened me with his enthusiasm. I told them about Ledah this morning and immediately after breakfast went over to Yggdrasil. The World Tree "Yggdrasil" is the pillar that connects all worlds. The Gods used it almost exclusively along with the Bifrost bridge to travel between worlds. The tree was basically a world unto itself, and as such acts differently than every other world. However, since the Gods have passed and with Ursula gone, it's melded with Riviera, making it more of an extension of Riviera than a pathway. It doesn't even really connect to every world anymore, not after Ragnarok. Heaven's Gate is a bit more convenient for travel ever since Bifrost was destroyed. Regardless, It was easy enough to get into Yggdrasil and climb our way to the top. There's still life here too, the fairies tend to the trees and the plants still grow but there's no trace of the censors, or any defense mechanism to speak of. I suppose intruders aren't the highest priority anymore. That's fine, less work for me.

We got to the spot where Ledah faded away and Cierra helped me set up the spell, though it was a little beyond her. I used a layer clairvoyance spell on top of a 7-point convergence circle to find Ledah and pull him back together, fixing his body in the process. I was able to use his diviner as a catalyst since Ein had kept it from when Ledah fell. This method has a bit of a side effect of partially undoing his sacrifice. He's going to have some emotions for the first time in years, and it's probably going to take some getting used to. The spell went well, Ledah woke up confused but Ein and his group gladly filled him in. After a few hours, Leon and I introduced ourselves and explained the situation. He agreed to help us out, bringing my eventual Grim Angel count to 7. There may be hope yet for us.

After spitting in death's face (For a 3rd time apparently) we went home and had a nice meal. Ledah asked me if he could spar, to see what all he's lost and gained. I had planned on asking him to train in a few days but the guy's a trooper. We headed out to the training field and set up a few rounds, here's the result.

_Round 1:_ Ledah

Combat performance – For being dead a whole year, very well.

Needs work on – His skills with magic are kind of low, especially in resisting magic. He'll also need help controlling his new emotions. I'm also going to have to break his one weapon rule. Specialization is great, but having a backup plan will keep you alive.

Comments – Ledah is a very well rounded and experienced fighter. He's a bit unstable emotionally but he doesn't need Diviner training at all. Using the Lorelei exclusively for so long has given him an edge in close combat with the lance and Long ranged combat with fire. He can fly better than Serene and he uses that well. He _does_ need work on his defense against magic, that will take some work but it can be done. He also needs options. If he runs into something that resists fire, Ledah's hosed. Other than that he's a good addition to the group.

_Round 2:_ Ein vs Leon

Combat performance – Better

Comments – I put Ein against someone that didn't completely outclass him to see how he fights against someone in his skill level. He improved, didn't win, but Leon's a bit more diverse than Ein. Leon's got a mixed element so it can be hard to pin him down. That reminds me, Leon can fly and Ein can't, Leon didn't seem to realize this. I'll need to work on his mid-air combat as well.

_Round 3: _Serene, Ein and Leon vs Me

Combat performance – Well enough

Needs work on – Attacking one at a time needs to stop now.

Comments – I grabbed all the close range combat people from yesterday and told them to all attack me at once. Serene's range is a bit too large with the scythe to let Ein and Leon come in at the same time. Might work on her secondary weapons for group combat, or greater control of her scythe. I need Agreth for Serene's training, he's better at big weapons than I am. They still tried to go mostly one at a time, Leon kept up the pressure for the most part but Serene and Ein still worked in shifts. This isn't good but we can work on it. Ein has all the same problems as the others, to be fair, it's only been a day, even fast learners need a little more time than that.

It was late by the time we finished, I swung by the magic guild for a few minutes to really give their library a once over. Cierra joined me and gave me a quick summary on what was there. They didn't have anything out of the ordinary other than a section from Tetyth that Ein had apparently picked up. They did have everything they'd need to identify new threats and methods to deal with those threats with some research. My personal library is bigger but I've been collecting and writing for 11000 years at this point so this fact isn't too surprising.

I tried to let Cierra down gentle while we were there, I don't think it came across right. She probably only got "Not Tonight" out of it. She's either stubborn or can't read signals. Or both probably.

Sieght couldn't take a hint either, she missed that lesson I guess. With Sieght though the message was the opposite. After the First Holy War I was interested in settling down, she was one of the only girls I knew on top of already being in my care. The village a group of us had established had just been completed too so we had plenty of room for her. I had been training her in the place of the father I failed to save already so moving closer to her teacher wasn't too big of a shock. She took it pretty well honestly. It only took a few decades before we'd fallen for each other. It was good. Then my sacrifice started kicking in. I wasn't allowed to have a nice peaceful life, I was supposed to fight. I was sent to Helheim to investigate and when I got back Sieght had been shipped off too. Stories for another time I suppose.

Anyway, after research I went back to Serene's place and noticed that she and Leon weren't home. Moon was pretty tonight, I guess they went to that Grove of Repose place to engage in relationship building together. I suppose I should be glad that Leon is happy now, I know it's not going to last much longer, especially when Scath shows up.

That reminds me, I patrolled town, there are 5 spires around the place in total. I'd need a really high vantage point to see what symbol they make but I'm betting it's a five point star. That could be used in a ton of arrays though, and considering there are more further out, the implications could be pretty bad.

I'll find out more later.

**_-Ø-_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Entry 05** _Status update, status quo_

This will be a short progress update. It's been 2 days since Entry 04 and we've finally set into a routine. I get up first and patrol with Ledah, who is lodged in the already packed home of Ein's. Once that's done I work on my place a bit, gather materials, do some construction, etc. I've got a foundation down now, just need to ward the place up and harvest enough lumber for the job. After an hour or two Cierra will show up to spend time with me, discuss magic, our enemies, and herself. She asks about me usually but I bet if I stay vague long enough she'll lose interest. After that we have breakfast at Ein's and whoever I'm training that day goes with me to the field afterwords. I'm sticking with training groups for now so I can integrate Leon in with them. Several hours after that starts Fia and I patch everyone up and send them on their way to do whatever they do together.

There's been slight growth, but it's only been 3-4 days, It'll take much longer before I start to see definite results.

I'm not sure how we all show up at Ein's at the right time for dinner. If it was a learned internal clock Leon, Ledah, and I should be late or early, but we're always "Just in time." I guess the power of Fia's cooking is greater than I thought possible.

If I die on this mission I think I'd be alright with it, this is as peaceful as it gets for me. It's nice to have a reminder of what you're fighting for every now and then. This place is reminiscent of Gersemi before... Well before the Second Holy War wrecked it. The Origin didn't take kindly to our continued existence and began razing any villages he could find. Of the squad sent to protect the place, only one angel survived. Kazé. He felt so bad he hung around the place, wounded, waiting for someone to show up so he could apologize. When I did, he clung to my leg begging for forgiveness. He was an angel created by the Magi and had great respect for us made by the Gods, so failing us was a big deal in his eyes. I knew what he was going through and took him in. We waited for Sieght to report back in an impromptu shed I'd built so Kazé would have some shelter while I treated him. When she did the two of us just went up to her and broke down. We three, orphaned by the world, banded together then and there, Kazé became like the brother I never had and Sieght the lover I so needed. We were a messed up crew back then, and it never really got any better.

At least now I have the power to stop such things from happening. No one else needs to feel that kind of suffering...

Getting back on topic, I watched the sunset with Leon and Serene. Might have seen them holding hands already. Leon really sees me like the father he never really got to know and the others treat me far too formally. I need to start breaking the ice more, get them to laugh at and with me. I bet if Nardi or Kazé get here their behavior will set the right tone.

By the way, I sent a follow up message to Asgard on the spires and requested Kaze, Chris, and Nardi join me as soon as possible. I didn't bother requesting Agreth, no way they'd have the last two Ancient Ones on the same mission. "Too inefficient."

I'll be waiting for the message back.

_** -Ø-**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Entry 06** _Origin's first move_

_Sorry about being so horrible with my uploads. Drama and such. I should be getting kind of back to normal though.  
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><p>It's been a few days since Entry 05. That peace I like so much didn't last long. The Origin must have realized I was almost happy or something.<p>

After lunch today everyone split up to be with their better halves as per usual. Leon and Serene went to the Grove of Repose, Ein and Fia to the Undine Spring, Cierra, Lina, and I to the Magic Guild, and Ledah and Rose stayed at Ein's. They must have been waiting for us to split up because 4 squads of the Origin's standard foot soldiers quickly moved in, attacking all 4 points simultaneously. I believe this to be something Matok came up with to see how strong my new trainees are. The Origin would have sent bigger guns, Scath and Zvysok wouldn't even bother with troops, and Dozorca isn't that clever.

Each squad had about 5 troops with weapons to cover five elements (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Holy, and Darkness) I'm not exactly sure why they only covered the main spectrum but I suppose it is hard to teach specialties to things without minds. Because of an oversight on my part, Lina and Cierra weren't expecting the troops to be as durable as they were, but I was there to pick up the slack. Husks have been nothing but cannon fodder to me for as long as I can remember. Cierra, assuming I was weaponless, tossed me a Rosier. Longinus isn't the most portable thing in the world so I keep it sealed in my being. After I took care of the rabble I told them exactly what those things were. The Origin takes a bunch of weaker demons and deconstructs them to their base parts which he then uses to make dozens of "Husks" to be used as a common foot soldier. They're skinny pale humanoid creatures with thick skin and some base resistances to magic making them quite versatile. Being essentially mindless, they unceasingly pursue their objective (Usually "Kill everything") and as a bonus feel no pain so it can be tough to put them down. Dismemberment usually works well, obliterating their torso is also good, and depending on the batch decapitation also might do the trick. I told Cierra to reduce them to a fine ash whenever she sees these things, and told Lina to pin them down and leg it to someone else for help. Then she supercharged an arrow and blew one of the soldier's heads clean off.

"That works too" was my reply.

I sent Cierra off towards Ein and Fia, and Lina to Ledah, going after Leon myself. When I got there I saw that they had been having problems, but Serene started freezing the soldiers solid at one point and suddenly they weren't having problems anymore. Leon must have been surprised when one got up from decapitation because he'd taken a hit to the left shoulder, nothing I couldn't patch up of course but it got Serene worried. After a quick base treatment I took them to Ledah's location and found 5 nice piles of ash and one lightly wounded Ledah. He didn't need healing for those little scratches.

I headed off towards Ein and Fia immediately. I know I'd sent Cierra and that Fia is a healer but I had a bad feeling. I was right. Ein had gotten himself impaled on a poisoned blade and was in bad shape when I got there. Fia was in hysterics. I got the poison purified and Fia focused long enough to help me heal the wound. He'll need to be careful moving for a few days but there wont be any permanent damage. It'll take about a week, but he'll make a full recovery. Nearly had to carry both Fia and Ein back but Cierra got Fia to calm down enough for the trip home.

We gathered at Ein's I gave my explanation of the Husks again and apologized for not doing so earlier. While I was at it I also told them a little about the 4 Greater Demons that lead The Origin's army in his place... Very brief summaries.

Matok – the probable organizer of this attack. He's the lead tactics guy of The Origin's army, very clinical, will win at all costs.

Zvysok is a maniac, he's more controlled than Scath but that's not saying much, he loves rubbing his superiority in people's faces.

Dozorca is so conceited that I'm shocked he hasn't married a mirror. He's convinced that he's the most sacred and beautiful thing ever. Unfortunately he has the power to back up his special brand of insanity.

And then we have Scath, squatting in the body of Leon's brother (I omitted that last part for the general explanation). He loves pain. His, his enemies, doesn't matter to him, he loves torture and maiming anything that gets close. Hopefully he won't figure out the connection.

After that, Serene and Leon went off on their own. Ledah went outside to get some air and I decided to join him. He and I talked a little bit, I told him more about myself than I'd told the others yet. Ledah and I are rather similar, warriors, loners, semi-stoic. I'm among friends here, friends who are much younger than I am, but still friends. I'm almost glad things have worked out this way.

Oh, My wisp made it back. The Magi were going to send some no-name Angel to investigate Helheim but Agreth demanded the mission be given to him. Crazy bastard. I guess he figures if I put the request in the mission will be exciting. Agreth looks for thrills now a days. Anything to "Make him feel alive." I see where he's coming from. It's easy to get detached like that after fighting so many battles, after losing so many friends, so many loved ones. Agreth is a man who lives in the now, he speaks loudly and carries a massive axe. He combines lightning, earth, and fire to wreck his enemy's day. He'll play fair if it's one on one, I keep telling him it's going to get him killed, but he always says that if he loses in a fair fight like that he can die happy.

Who am I kidding, I'm going to be the last Ancient One...

The report also says my backup has been approved. Kazé, Nardi and Chris are on their way. I'll be finished with the house in a day or so. I can't wait.

I told Leon we'll be able to move out soon but he asked if he could stay with Serene. That was _Fast_. I told him he could do what he wanted and the kid hugged me, and you know what? _So did Serene_. I figure let him live and love while he can. He'll be fighting to the death with his brother soon. If I squint really hard I can see a younger version of Sieght and I when I look at those two. We were quite... eager... to see each other. Mainly because we were busy committing atrocities while fighting that 3rd Holy War. The only safe and quiet place was in each others' arms. Back then, almost every mission was a genocide against an innocent village of indirect Fallen Ones. Instead of sending a squad of angels to take the villages, they just threw one Ancient One in with the orders "Murder _Everything._" Not even Agreth liked those days. There were so many Ancient Ones who fell by their own hand... Who could blame them? They were being forced to murder thousands of children, _who looked just like our children_. If you were a close range specialist, one of two things happened if you were sent on one of these missions, insanity or suicide, often both. It was different for me, I could decimate villages from afar, leaving behind naught but a smoking hole in the ground. But. I was still vaporizing thousands of innocent people. Innocent people waking up to go tend the crops, raise their children, hang out with friends. At least I didn't have to see more than that one village of faces... I... The first village had a barrier... I had to- Sieght was much the same, she could incinerate or flood entire villages with a series of spells. They... They made her destroy the village she had previously infiltrated to gather information. When we were off duty, we were at my rebuilt house in Gersemi's ruins. She cried a lot, and you know... So did I. It was around this time that we found Nardi. Well, found isn't actually the right word. Nardi's parents had both died in a massive explosion that took out their entire division. Because I was now known as the bearer of the broken, 3 year old Nardi was dropped on my doorstep, almost literally. Sieght, Kazé, and I jumped at the chance to raise and _protect_ something. We spoiled him rotten, but he was there for us in a big way...

I... I'm rambling. Nardi, Chris, and Kazé should be here in a few days. They'll leave Asgard when Kazé gets back from a quick supplies mission he took a few days ago.

I really hope I can prevent a 5th Holy War with this mission. If I can just round up all the Fallen Ones and tell them to stop screwing around and finally kill The Origin...

What an unattainable dream.

_** -Ø-**_

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><p><em><strong><strong>So, that was the 3rd Holy war. I can't remember if I explained this but Indirect Fallen Ones are cursed by birth. They didn't do anything wrong other than be born to the wrong family so you can understand why Zero and many others had hang ups killing them. Although, Asgard is a pretty racist group of people so not all Angels are as kind to Fallen Ones as Zero and his friends. I mean... It is the Norse... You guys know what they did to Dwarves right? Threw them in fires for no reason. Pricks.  
><em>


	8. Chapter 8

**Entry 07** _Home_

_If updates slow down, blame Devil Survivor 2. I try to get this stuff uploaded to Doc Manager edited so all I have to do is type these A/N whenever an upload day comes around. It's how you guys got the first 6 entries on schedule, because I uploaded ALL of them at once and staggered their publishing. Doing Let's Plays on Youtube showed me that I work fastest/most to my schedules when I do everything WELL in advance. Being exceedingly lazy I tend to slack off a lot so whenever I do feel like working on videos or writing I do A LOT of it so I can goof off and not have to worry about missing upload days._

_Oh. You guys wanted something to do with the story? Uh. This is a really short entry. Originally I had Zero write this as a few sub entries but I decided sub entries are kind of silly so I scrapped the whole concept and just made it an end of the day thing where Zero writes just before going to sleep.  
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><p>As expected, I finished the home today. It's fairly large compared to the other homes here in Elendia. Nothing close to the mansion at Gersemi but it'll do. It's got 6 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms. Front door leads to a living area that can accommodate around 15 people comfortably. Kitchen is to the left of this with one bedroombath to the right. This is where I'll be sleeping. I built a workshop into it so I can modify our weapons and just make better ones. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms 2 baths, and the 3rd floor has the last 2 bedrooms and the last bathroom. The place is furnished but right now it's just got the bare essentials and only me living in it.

At least that was the case until I showed the place off, everyone was surprised, except me, when Cierra, after commenting on how lonely it must be for me, offered to move in. I said yes but that we needed to talk before we actually moved anything. When they asked "Why so many rooms?" I told them I'd requested help. After they left I sat Cierra down and told her straight that I wasn't interested. She asked what was wrong with her and I said her timing. I didn't name any names but I told her my last lover had just died. She took it... Alright I guess. Still wanted to move in even. She said she could still learn a lot from me magic wise. This is true but I just don't think she's given up yet.

She left to go help the others pack her stuff. I'll see how this plays out. After Sieght I just don't know. I'm a fighter, not a lover. After a few hours of moving things Cierra was in. She's up on the second floor and seems rather cheerful even after our talk. _Ein_ of all people pulled me aside and asked what was up. Told him the same thing, lover just died, I'm literally on the mission that claimed her life, I'm not ready. He said he understood. Apparently Fia was killed briefly during their final confrontation with Hector. Ursula brought her back as her last act of penance. I told him he was very lucky, and that he should let Fia know that sometime. I think I struck a nerve.

How come every time someone tries to help me, I end up helping them more? Guess it's just my lot in life.

I started thinking about Chris. If I should tell him everything or not. He could survive ignorance, he might even be happier for it in the end. I have to ask someone. I know what it's like _being_ a parent, not actually having one. I think I'll ask Cierra since she's in the house. I told her as little as possible while still getting my point across. When I told her I had a son she asked how old I was, "Old" was all I could say.

Anyway, she told me that she'd want to know what her mother was like so she could at least have those memories.

I guess that settles it then. I'd grabbed one of Sieght's most recent diaries before I left, I'm just going to give it to Chris and tell him his mother is gone.

I'm not sure how this new information affected Cierra. I'm sure I'll hear from someone tomorrow. Especially after telling Ein.

_ **-Ø-**_

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><p><em>Oh Ein. You are gonna cause so many problems for Zero! Especially in the next entry. I'm still not sure if I really want Cierra and Zero to get together, I haven't hit the point where it actually happens (I will need to decide next entry though) but I kind of like Zero being a loner. The way it's written already is that they get together, but once they do it just sort of stops being mentioned too much. I either need to mention it more or just cut it out. Lemme know what you guys thing. And by "you guys" I mean Martin III whom I owe a considerable amount to. READ HIS STUFF! There, you got like 5 extra hits Martin III, that outta pay back all the advice and extremely helpful reviews! Wait...<br>_


	9. Chapter 9

**Entry 08** _The pity parade_

_Decided to upload on Thursday because I've been on a roll lately. I've got the next Entry revised and ready too, and 3 more after that to revise. Then I need to start typing again!_

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><p>Telling Ein I'd just lost a lover was a horrible mistake. Word got around very quickly, now they all feel bad for me. Serene and Leon went the extra mile and pretended they weren't interested in each other in my presence. They even apologized. I beat the loving crap out of them when training time rolled around. I told them I was holding a group meeting after we finished and went straight to Ein's place. It didn't take long for them to gather. Ledah and Rose were the only ones without sad faces, which I appreciated. I'll give Ledah credit, he seems to understand how I work better than the rest of them.<p>

I exempted Ledah and Rose, but they stuck around. Apparently they had a running bet on the turn of events, Ledah won. I think.

I told everyone I was withholding all information that wasn't necessary for a reason. I'm an Ancient One and that I do what has to be done. I try not to let the drama that surrounds bother me, and that the best thing they could do is to be happy and in love so I can remember the good times.

I think it worked, I took Ein, Fia, Ledah, and Leon out for training immediately after this and Ein and Fia were back to normal. I think a confession of love happened between the two of them yesterday, the air between them has changed.

While I was fighting the group, Ein actually managed to break the sword I've been using for training in half. I was so proud I immediately summoned my diviner and took him out of the fight.

I'd planned on using that sword until it was broken so I wouldn't be completely overwhelming when I first started training. I also wanted to let them feel like they accomplished something in forcing me to switch to my actual weapon. Plus, using the Longinus against them is supremely unfair.

They briefly wondered how I got the thing. The Longinus is the most powerful diviner there is, in fact being the template for all other Diviners. The Magi gave it to me a few thousand years ago because I was the most capable with the thing. I've been around so long can basically pick up and use any weapon so I didn't suffer from losing my original Diviner too much. My old Diviner was a bow that I used as a sword most of the time because it was sharp as hell and it made it much easier to shoot things when they locked blades with it. I had to give up both it, and my memories of Hoenir to get the Longinius (A trade I did NOT mind) so all I have to go on are my written accounts and stories from Kazé and Sieght.

You know, I just realized, I'm running real low on people that have known me my whole life. Nardi barely remembers Hoenir, something I used for nearly five thousand years, so he's out. Chris is barely 300 so he's out too. All I've got are Kazé and Agreth, and Agreth is going to get himself killed in a duel. That's... depressing. At least I wrote it all down.

Back on the topic of training, Leon and Ledah are fitting into the group dynamic nicely. After a few more actual battles we might get to see some seriously awesome teamwork.

Looking back at today, I'm very glad they broke my sword. The fact that I have the Longinus has replaced the murmurs of my lost love.

After training, and quick meal, Cierra met up with me at the Magic Guild and agreed to be the first to have her weapon upgraded. Still eager I see. I'm not sure if I find this endearing or frustrating. I'm sure that answer will become clearer with time. I told her about the enchantments I was going to do, how to do them, and what materials we'd need. She said that half the enchantments were things she never would have though of and that she was glad I'm nice enough to still teach her. I _almost_ blushed. I did the enchant, physically modded it, and made her staff into an Agilion Flash Stave. It's a step up from that Southern Cross to say the least. There was a nice shard of her old weapon left over too. After I made sure she'd gone, I made it into a pendant and gave it a slight darkness warding effect as thanks and left it in her room. I fixed my regular sword shortly after. Even though it's breakable I still like having the thing around. I try not to wave the Longinus around too much so I tend to default to the sword.

Last thing that happened today, well yesterday now I suppose, was Cierra finding her pendant late that night, having come back home after I'd gone to sleep. When she screamed I was outside my room in seconds, in my night cloths mind you, thinking something had happened. She blindsided me from the stairs repeating "Thank-you-I'll-cherish-it-forever" an impressive 23 times in 7 seconds. She'd apparently already changed into her night gown and when she got up her face went blood red.

If I hadn't already been on the ground, I would have fallen over from laughing. She apologized and left almost before I could thank her. She poked her head back into the living room when I said that. I added, "Don't scream like that for future reference. If I'd had the Longinius out, one or both of us would have been impaled." She giggled and wished me good night before closing the door.

I haven't had a good laugh like that in a few months. It's a nice feeling. Great way to end a day.

_** -Ø-**_

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><p><em>As you can see, I still left the relationship between Cierra and Zero up in the air. I think I'm gonna leave it like that. Zero wouldn't really talk about his love life anyway. Also, Next part Zero gets SERIOUSLY off topic and explains what the Second Holy War was, what lead to the Third, and more about Fallen Ones and Angels in general. Figured it was a bit overdue. We'd be around chapter. I think Five in INO at this point.<br>_


	10. Chapter 10

**Entry 09** _Scath Showed up_

_Finally get something more than foot soldiers. Only took 10 chapters. Ah well, combat is about to go full blast.  
><em>

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><p>I preface this entry with "Damn it." Honestly, it didn't go as badly as it could have, and I sensed pretty much immediately when Scath started fighting. It just took me 5 minutes to get to Leon and Serene. The two of them, while strong, weren't enough for a Greater Demon with a Diviner. From what I heard, Leon even had to fight alone for a while. Scath was just playing with him, causing as much pain as he could. Thankfully, neither of them figured out their relation this time, but it wouldn't be hard for either of them to realize it. When I finally got there Leon was on the verge of collapse, and Serene was already out cold so I had to fight Scath myself until backup arrived. Thankfully, Fia arrived shortly after I did and was able to stabilize Serene. Leon man. He has a high tolerance to pain, I tell you. He'd been slashed a few times, and was losing quite a bit of blood, but he was right there beside me, fighting. I didn't want to kill Scath, that was Leon's call once he knew the truth, so I just chased him off under the pretense of ending the fight quick so I could treat their injuries.<p>

Leon passed out immediately after Scath left, just after Serene had woken up. She was not thrilled in the slightest. It's been obvious for a while but this really showed how much those two care for one another. Anyway, we got them home and patched them up, and I have to give her credit, Serene quite the trooper herself. I mean, her spine had been clipped, he _must_ have caught them off guard. Probably wasn't too hard with that Darkness element of his. Scath can make it pretty hard to see or even detect his presence if he tries hard enough. Once everyone had calmed down I told them that this is the caliber demon we'll have to be able to beat easily. They weren't exactly thrilled.

After treatment we woke Leon up with a cold glass of water to the face. In retrospect I should have let him stay unconscious. Ledah and I decided to escort the couple home. Ledah was a clever bastard and left immediately upon arrival at Serene's to go do something with Rose. I, on the other hand stayed behind to make absolutely sure everything was alright. This gave Leon the chance to start asking me questions... He recognized Scath's weapon both as a Diviner and on a deeper level. After I finished choking on my words I told him I wasn't sure what he was talking about. It's not a lie if you tilt your head and squint at it real hard. I debated telling him then and there, but knowing the kid like I do, it would probably get him killed. I'll ask Kazé if I should talk when he gets in tomorrow. I need to figure out what's more lethal, the shock of finding out in battle, or the doubts and desire to save his brother that Scath will defiantly take advantage of. I told them that I had asked Fia to meet me my house so I could fix up her Rosier into a better weapon and left before further questions could be asked. When I got back I found Ein had come with her. I made a ruling on Ein's true character a while ago. He isn't a player or innocent, he just has absolutely no idea how relationships are supposed to work after you say "I love you." As a side note, Fia also has this problem but not to the extent that Ein does. Also he's a little completely overprotective. I get that Leon and Serene just got savaged but Fia is in close proximity to me at this juncture. You know, the catastrophically strong Ancient One class Angel that you can barely touch. Whatever, heightened emotions, love and the like.

I took the Rosier and completely replaced the blade with a far more durable Asgardian metal, and used the Longinius to enchant the thing. End result is something I call the Vanaheimr. She seemed impressed and asked me to let her test it out in a little training session.

We went down to the training ground and had a good spar. Ein and Fia fought together and actually attacked me at the same time! No match for me still, but it was an improvement. Fia needs to practice a bit more before she can learn some new skills, but when she does, she'll be much better suited for combat against Greater Demons. Also apparently Cierra let Fia practice healing with the Agilion Flash, which is a nice unexpected bonus. Sometimes I forget that they share weapons. Most of them can use rapiers too, so this should be good in the long run.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but Kazé, Chris, and Nardi are in Riviera. They got in last night and are on their way towards Elendia. I hope they don't get lost like Leon and I. Chris is pretty good with directions though, so they should be fine.

Wonder how long it will take The Origin to really start laying into us with his Generals. I'm sure Matok is really gearing up right about now. I've lost count of how many generals I've beaten. Since direct combat with The Origin usually results in getting reduced to a fine ash, Asgard mostly targets His armies and tries to cripple His plans. We only directly engaged Him with large groups of Ancient Ones. However, since there are no large groups of Ancient Ones anymore, that tactic isn't exactly possible. See, the thing with Angels like me and Agreth, we're irreplaceable. Because we were directly created by the Gods' sacrifice, we have the highest concentration of their powers. As such, we Ancient Ones are _worlds_ apart from most other Angels.

See, Angel's like Ein and Ledah were created much later by the Magi. Sure, they still use whatever fragments of the God's that haven't been used yet, but the end result is a bunch of Angels made from scraps. Agreth and I, on the other hand, were made from much larger portions of the Gods. The Magi figured we'd kill The Origin fairly quickly so they didn't exactly manage their resources that well. You can imagine that as time went on new Grim Angels got weaker and weaker. They can still be trained to fight quite well though. With enough effort you can compensate for not having too much base power. Although I guess this is a good thing considering that this makes new Fallen Ones considerably weaker as well. I guess I could explain this again, it's been a while and could use some reiterating.

Fallen Ones are Angels that have turned against Asgard. They're stripped of their Diviner and a curse is inflicted upon them, usually much more crippling than their original sacrifice. Fallen Ones really only started being made after the First Holy War, when we Ancient Ones started to see that The Magi weren't exactly on the level. A non insignificant amount of Angels turned to The Origin's side and that sparked the Second Holy War. The Origin was understandably pissed at losing to us the first time so He took great pleasure in corrupting Angels to His side, only to devour them when the final battles of the war started to turn against Him. He got quite far into Asgard proper, after laying waste to Heaven's Gate, ruining every village in His way until we managed to fight him off. Gersemi was one of them as I've mentioned before.

After that, Asgard became obsessed with making sure that The Origin wouldn't have any more Fallen Ones to use against them, triggering the Genocide of every Fallen One we could find and eventually the Third Holy War.

Alright, enough history. Maybe I can talk Agreth into joining me on the Final Assault. I'm sure he'd love to duke it out with The Origin.

I've noticed that I get horrifically off topic in almost every single one of these entries. I'll write again when Chris gets here.

_** -Ø-**_

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><p><em><strong><strong>Finally, some bloody explanation. Sorry that took so long, I wanted to weave it in but realized I would really just not get a good chance to do that so if it seems forced, it was. _


	11. Chapter 11

**Entry 10** _Family Reunions_

_I used google translate for the incantation Zero writes down so I apologize if I accidentally insulted someone's mother.  
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><p>Wars are a tough thing to go through. I've been through so many that my personality has been irreparably damaged. Normally I can do a good job of controlling my emotions, keeping impulsive behavior at a minimum. But. Sometimes. Something happens to push me to my limits. Something that I'm not ready to deal with emotionally. Today that something was Kazé. First thing out of Chris's mouth when we saw each other,<p>

"Kazé said you have news about mom"

Kazé was noticeably absent from the group when Chris said that. He knows me too well. Knew I'd try to melt his brain with a spell, or make up something that would leave him racked with pain and unable to speak. I could do it. _Its Possible_. Учинићу кичму експлодирати са много бола нанео на вас.

Where was I? Oh Right. I told him I'd fill him in later, when there weren't as many people listening in and that I had something to give him. Then the it was time for introductions. Chris is my son, technically an Ancient One too, but he's only about as powerful as Ein or Nardi. Right now anyway. Chris has more potential than everyone I've been training combined. The Ancient One blood is strong in him, and that's not just me gushing as a father. Nardi, the one dropped into our lap during the Third Holy War, is spoiled rotten but his serious face is something to behold. He knows the right thing to do and will do it, but boy willl he moan about it. He's also a bit of a trouble maker. I've never been able to figure out where that came from. Finally we have the dead one, Kazé. He knows me better than anyone now that Sieght's gone. He's an older Angel and very powerful due to training with Ancient Ones most of his life. He's got a gentle and caring personality that stops him from going all out in a fight against something he doesn't absolutely hate.

I went ahead and started restructuring our training schedule. Ein needs a more gentle touch than I can provide so he, Nardi, and Chris will mostly free-for-all. They're all about the same level so this should give all 3 the opportunity to grow. I should note this won't replace one on one sessions with me, but those sessions will occur with less frequency now. Kazé and I can swap out as we go so the others won't get sick of us.

Anyway, we went out to my place and, surprise, Kazé was there waiting. I almost stabbed him on the spot but everyone was watching so I only ended up giving him a death glare. He kind of chuckled, I should have known he'd be immune to my glares after all this time. I'm glad everyone decided to tag along, this was a good opportunity to see how the meeting room feels with all of us in it. After some more small talk, I mentioned that the newcomers be staying here, prompting Nardi to immediately object. I think he just wanted to be closer to the girls, should have mentioned this earlier but he's a bit of a letch. I told him that only Cierra and Lina were currently unspoken for. He gave up on the spot. I set Nardi up on the 3rd floor, as far from Cierra as possible, with Chris and Kazé filling up the 2nd with Cierra. The group was eager to socialize with the newcomers so I decided to let them while I talked to Chris. I grabbed the diary and we went outside.

I opened up telling him his mother had died recently. He took it ok I guess. He was viably shaken but I would have been worried if he hadn't been. I told him her name and that she loved him very much. He asked why she was so distant and I told him it was really simple. Sieght had lost both of her parents and that was basically the toughest thing she ever went through, emotionally anyway. When she got pregnant with Chris after the 4th Holy war she made the decision that since there were so few Ancient Ones left, 4 counting us, and the steady increase in difficulty of our missions, she didn't want Chris to be hurt as she had been, and I can see now that it worked. To an extent. I think he realized that she loved him so much that she was willing to remove herself from his life for his happiness. I decided to stay with Chris. My missions were dangerous, sure, but I didn't want him to be completely parentless like I was. I gave him the diary and told him to read it whenever he wanted. He was nearly in tears but he immediately hugged me. Even though I thought my tears had long dried up, I was struggling to keep from openly crying. All I could do was return the gesture and tell him how much we loved him.

After a while we went back inside. Kazé smiled knowingly when we walked in. I tried to hurl a chair at him while the others managed to stop me from hitting him. They didn't quite understand my rage but it was worth it. After I decided to murder him in his sleep we went out for a quick spar /s_o I could thrash Kazé a bit_ / to test out my new training method. Results are as follows...

_Round 1_: Ein vs Chris vs Nardi

Combat Performance: Well

Comments: Ein's still recovering from his impalement but he wanted to fight, so I let him. His performance was fine and his Disaresta attack getting stronger. He's also decent at fighting multiple enemies. Nardi hung back for the most part until I yelled at him. He doesn't actually have an element, he likes fire spells but his Diviner uses destructive energy with a red tint. I told him to just stick with sword fighting, don't want anyone to get too badly injured. Nardi's Diviner, Hyndla, is a red great sword. It's light for it's size so he can swing the thing around quicker than one would think possible. Chris did well too, he's nice like Kazé and doesn't fight seriously all too often, but he did today. He must be training to avenge his mother. Chris's Diviner is a single gray clawed gauntlet named Sigoir. He uses magic to supplement and enhance his claws, coating them in elemental spells. He's also good with most elements, which is a trait he got from me. He's got some control issues due to lack of actual combat experience though. Ein just needs to heal, Nardi... I'm a bit worried about him due to his sacrifice. He lost his sense of balance, and it doesn't interfere as badly as one might think with fighting, but I've noticed that it's getting worse. He just needs to learn more spells so he won't have to keep moving around for the time being.

_Round 2_: Kazé vs Ledah and Serene

Combat performance: Ok

Comments: Ledah and Serene have opposing elements and since we are such a diverse group, this is going to be a problem that needs to be addressed. They have to learn to work around this in order to increase their chances of survival. Kazé is quite a bit stronger than his sparring partners. His birth element is wind but he's capable of using spells from almost every other element. Kazé is also really, really, fast when he needs to be. His Diviner is a short sword/long knife with a green coloration named Yngvi. He's really good at getting close and he's agile enough to dodge most everything, something Ledah and Serene couldn't deal with properly. Because of this large difference in speed they focused on wide range spells to try and catch Kazé. Unfortunately for them, he dodged those too and countered with several spells of his own. We'll probably need to work on dealing with high speed opponents to keep them from losing their cool in a combat situation.

_Round 3_: Me vs Fia, Cierra, Lina, and Leon.

Combat performance: Well

Comments: Fia and Leon attacked me at the same time! I was very proud. They only let up whenever Cierra started flinging huge spells at me. Both Cierra and Fia have learned a few abilities from their new weapons giving them a noticeable spike in strength. Lina just kept firing, she was good at not hitting her allies but bad at actually hitting me. Although I did take a couple of hits from the two melee fighters due to me holding back a little too much. Leon hasn't fully recovered from his brush with Scath which kept me from doing too much for risk of hurting him more.

They're getting better, quickly. I'm proud. I can't wait to see how strong they'll be when this is all over. I've grown quite close to this group. I almost want to stay here if we beat The Origin. If I don't die in the fight anyway. I know my sacrifice wont let me do that though. I lost my ability to remain at peace. Not like meditation and a calm mind though. I can't settle down for extended periods of time. The max I can idle around is about 2 years. After that I'll be forced into a mission or to participate in another damned war. It keeps me bound to the will of the Magi, something I don't always agree with, and makes me a very efficient choice for dealing with lengthy missions.

After training we had dinner. I talked about my past for a bit, and about our enemies. Serene left with Leon when they finished eating to go be together. With all the chaos I think they were going to do something special. After chatting, Kazé and I went outside to talk about a few things. I asked if he thought Chris would mind if I didn't openly dissuade Cierra from trying to pursue a meaningful relationship with me. He said he wasn't sure but that Chris would either tell me or would want me to be happy regardless of his feelings. Next, I asked if I should talk to Leon about Scath. He thought about it for a bit but said we shouldn't interrupt him and Serene with it tonight. After that, the five of us left for home and called it a night. I'll write again when something happens.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em><strong><strong>As always backstory is given bits at a time. This time a bit on Seight and even a bit more about Zero. I still haven't settled on Cierra x Zero, I think I'm just going to have him ponder just letting her flirt with him. I think this is around the point Lilly and Kino were initially introduced, and Max was in this group too. I also kind of have to elaborate on fighting styles in the training rounds because of the journal format. Regardless this has cut quite a bit of useless filler from INO while still being around the same number of chapters, in fact being 7 chapters LONGER than the first version.  
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	12. Chapter 12

**Entry 11:** _He found out_

_This is another longer one, prepare for lots of exposition finally explaining Leon's past, as well as a bit of the 4th Holy War.  
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><p>Well didn't last long. It's been three days since I wrote last. We've just settled into the new status quo and the new training schedules. After patrol, Ledah, Leon, Kazé, and Chris went off to spar before breakfast. Since I wasn't needed I decided to help Fia out in the kitchen. When I told her this, she looked like she'd just been hit in the head with a club. She asked if I was a good cook.<p>

"Pretty good" I lied. I'm a great chef, just about Fia's level if not a little higher. I don't usually demonstrate my culinary skills away from home but I figured we could do with a really solid meal today. Needless to say, Fia was quite impressed when I'd finished. This whole thing lead to a funny scene when everyone gathered and asked what she'd done differently to make breakfast taste so much better. When she pointed at me and said I'd cooked this morning, man the looks on their faces. I laughed so hard I nearly fell over. After breakfast, Serene and Leon went off to the Grove of Repose to be alone. Chris and I wandered off so I could ask him a few things. First he told me he's read the diary and he understood why Sieght was so distant and that she loved him very much. Then the awkward part. I asked him what he thought about Cierra. I didn't expect him to laugh that I was even considering asking him. He said if it made things easier for me that he didn't mind. Kazé was right again I suppose. So we had a hug before I sensed a Greater Demon incoming. It was heading for Leon so I figured it was Scath. Chris and I booked it but once again Leon and Serene had to fight him off for a few minutes. When we got there I saw Leon had picked up Jack's Diviner. I couldn't stop him from using the thing. It's a familial diviner so Jack and Leon are the only ones who can use it. Scath figured out the relation immediately and shared it with Leon. He didn't believe it at first but Scath started pulling memories that only Jack would know. Leon lost his will to fight right there, I had to jump in to keep Scath from beheading him. Serene was at my heels, prompting Scath to try and impale her. She avoided it while I smacked him in the head with the shaft of the Longinus. She was about to ruin his day when Leon made her stop. I tried to convince him that Jack wasn't in there anymore but he wouldn't have it. He was going to save his brother. At this point he and Serene had already sustained some injuries, non life threatening, but it was enough to slow them down. When 4 of us started slinging our weight around and, thanks to Chris and I, we started winning. Unfortunately we had the complication of taking him alive, which made things more difficult than they needed to be. When Scath was getting close to losing Zvysok showed up and bailed Scath out. He didn't fight either, just retreated. He must have been under someone's orders because that wasn't his style at all.

It didn't really matter, just meant we could treat injuries all the sooner. I went to check on Leon. He asked me how I knew his brother's name without him ever telling me. He looked pissed. I told him I knew his dad which set him off. Started yelling that I was always hiding things from him, which is true, and that I must have known about Scath, which I did. He asked why I didn't tell him and I told him the truth. I told him I was worried that that knowledge would cloud his judgement and let Scath do what he did this time without me around to save his ass. If I'd gotten there a minute later Scath would have killed Leon, no doubt in my mind. He still didn't like it, asked what else I was hiding before he started getting dizzy from blood loss. We got him and Serene back home and treated. I decided to leave them under Fia's care before Leon could question me more. Cierra followed me home and closed the door behind her. I didn't say anything, just sat and rubbed my temples. She asked if I was ok.

I told her no, that I felt like shit and that I'd destroyed part of our group dynamic. I know Leon's mad right now, but this is one of those things that changes everything. With all the things I'm hiding. I doubt anybody will be able to trust me anymore. She asked why I was keeping things from them. Told her there were a lot of reasons. For one there are just some things about me and Asgard they just don't need to know. Second, there are a few things they don't WANT to know, like how terrifyingly powerful the Origin is. If I told them that they'd lose all hope and give up here, dooming us all. Lastly, there are just things I'm not comfortable sharing, like my sacrifice and how I got a lot of my scars.

She replied with the standard 'You don't have to take all the burden yourself' thing. I said stop and that I'd heard it all before. I appreciated the thought though. She nodded and apologized for some reason before Kazé got in. He told me Leon and Serene were recovering fine, faster than expected even. That was something I needed to hear, took a bit of the edge off. He also told me that I should defiantly attend dinner. I'd been planning to do so anyway, I need to talk to Leon about a few things. Kazé went up to his room and grabbed his Diviner for training with Ledah and Ein then left. Cierra sat down next to me and very, very, gingerly put a hand on my shoulder. When I turned to look at her she immediately retracted her hand. All I could do was chuckle and shake my head. She asked about my last lover, since I never talk about her ever. I figured it was a good time to start opening up to everyone. Here's the abridged version.

Seight was a very gentle and kind soul. She did what she had to in her missions and when she got home she'd always run up and hug Kazé/Me/Nardi/All of the above. She'd be tired and always wanted a cup of hot tea with cream. I'd have it ready for her on the table in the living area even before she got home. She'd put up her Diviner and take a big gulp of tea before going to take a bath. After an hour or so she'd come downstairs with her blue hair always short and messy. She'd have changed into something more comfortable by then and play with Nardi some. Then she'd watch Kazé and I train, telling us both how strong we were. After that I'd go to the library and record what I'd experienced that day and she'd read with me. Then we'd tuck Nardi in and go to bed ourselves. She was just a joyful person. The only times that joy was gone were the days of the 3rd Holy War. I think I've already gone over how horrible that war was. Sieght was strong through it all though. I'm glad she decided to settle for me, especially after all those people I could never save.

Cierra couldn't stop smiling. When I asked why, she said she was glad I was finally opening up to her. I guess, to her, this meant I was willing to give her the chance to get closer to me. It dawned on me then that I'd been treating everyone more like comrades in arms than friends. This needs to change.

We talked for a bit longer before heading over to Ein's. I got a few cross looks from Leon and Serene when I sat down. Again, he asked what I was keeping from them.

"Lots of things" Was my attempt at telling the truth. Leon didn't like that, but before he started I told him we needed to talk after dinner. Kazé and them got in right about then and we ate.

When I finally took Leon outside I told him to brace himself. I had a tale to tell. Leon's father, Alex, and I met during a routine clear of Heaven's Gate. There were quite a few dragons that trip because of the then recent 4th Holy War. That war involved basically every sentient being but Angels turning against Asgard due to our questionable leadership. The demons and humans got quite far into Heaven's gate and tore the place up even more, setting up several hives in the process. We managed to get them all eventually but then Riviera happened and Demons started pouring in from there. Anyway, because the hives hadn't been completely cleared out it was more dangerous than normal but we handled it. He'd told me about his sons so I decided to go with him to his house after we finished up. Ancient One visits were getting to be a big deal at this point so he agreed. He said it would be a bit of a mess since Leon had just been born. I told him it was alright, Chris had been born less than 100 years before so I knew what it was like. He had a modest place, introduced me to Jack who was barely a teen and his wife Erica. It was a nice family.

After that Alex and I started taking more missions together, got to know each other better. I started helping around his place when I could, started bringing members of my family when they were available. I met Jack's little girlfriend Sarah who seemed a little sickly, but I didn't look into it. I should have. I probably could have saved everyone if I had. She passed away due to some highly malignant something that we caught way too late. I'm not sure what it was exactly. I'd been teaching Jack how to use healing magic so when she died he went _way_ off the deep end, trying to figure out ways to use that magic to bring her back to live. Alex didn't know what to do since Jack had basically shut down, researching anything that he could get his hands on. It didn't help when he got Grim Angel status and clearance to restricted research. Jack's element was Ice at first, his Diviner a scythe by the name of Sephian. He found something that seemed like it would bring her back after a few months of digging through the Archives. He started a ritual at her house while I was over with Alex. We'd been talking for 20 minutes before a huge explosion of darkness almost blew the entire neighborhood away. I'd sensed it coming two seconds early and managed to put enough of a barrier up to at least save Alex's house. Leon, now a small child, ran into the remains of the room with his mother. I told all three of them to run, that a Greater Demon had somehow made it's way into Asgard. When it showed up seeking to devour us we saw it was Jack's body. We were stunned. I couldn't even draw my Diviner and Alex could barely manage standing. We tried to reach out to Jack, but the freshly awakened Scath was way too strong to be thrown off with words alone. We didn't fight, we got savaged. I put up minimal defense and knocked Alex out of the way a few times. He tried one last time. Hugged his son, and got torn apart for his trouble. I tried to heal him after knocking Scath out with a spell. Alex spoke to me with the last breaths he could muster.

He told me to watch after his sons, to help them grow up, and to help his wife as much as she needed. He made me swear to never tell Leon what happened to him until he was ready, he didn't want Leon to hate his brother. Alex wasn't sure if Jack was still in there somewhere but he said Leon would know what to do when the time came.

After Alex passed I let Scath get away and went to tend to everyone else. I continued to watch their family from a distance, making sure everything was alright. Checking in every now and then. Eventually we wound up here, on a mission to tie up this loose end.

Leon wasn't mad anymore, anger having been replaced with more shock. He thanked me and went back inside to be with Serene. I followed and found that the atmosphere had changed. Kazé told me that he'd told the group about my lying habits. I never directly lie, I omit things, leave out chunks that would hurt the mission or those I work with. He also said that if they ask I'd probably tell them everything they wanted to know, which is exactly right.

Anyway, dinner was over and we headed home, resolved. The air had been cleared and the path ahead was visible. It took a little work but the group is tighter than ever. And I'm willing to bet something's about to test us. I'll write when something happens.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>Again I'm trying to explain as much as possible while not overloading exposition. I don't know if it's working but hopefully Ancient Memories is starting to piece itself together as a complete story instead of a bunch of references to things only I know about.<em>


	13. Chapter 13

**Entry 12**: _Matok's Test_

_I think this is the first time the group as a whole has run into Matok. It's hard to convey in the journals, because Zero has already seen every trick in the book, but Matok is supposed to be one of those skilled tactician types. He's probably the most formal and least insane General. Journal format restricts this sort of thing though. Getting these journals online has made me consider actually writing the whole story out, but it would be a bit redundant at this point. I'd be able to do a good job with it right now. Stuff happening and such.  
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><p>It's been 2 days since I wrote last and let me start by saying that today could have gone better. I got up for morning patrol and it was pouring, and continued pouring for the rest of the day. This wasn't so bad, a simple barrier kept me dry for all my outside excursions. I didn't see anything as per usual and headed over to Ein's for breakfast. Leon and Serene were soaked and tracking water everywhere, which was kind of funny. Most everyone else seemed unaffected, living in the same house and all. Cierra and my family were fine, Kazé having stolen my barrier idea when they made the trip.<p>

There was a bit of discussion about giving everyone a day off from training. I still wanted to give it a go, The Origin doesn't really mind weather that much, however I was universally voted down. That settled we decided to just relax and wait for the weather to clear. For maybe 20 minutes.

It was faint, and almost completely masked by the rain, but those of us with sharp ears could hear their spells hitting the wards around town. Sounds of a rather large fighting force were coming from all sides so we split into 4 groups. Cierra and I went to the southern side of town by my place. Ein, Fia, and Nardi made their way north to check on The Elder I suppose. Chris and Ledah went west after telling Rose to hold down the fort. Finally Leon, Serene, and Kazé went east towards the Grove.

I assume everyone else saw the army that circled town. Those wards of mine were holding strong but if we didn't stop the assault they'd eventually crumble. Cierra did what she does best, flinging meteors at people and reducing them to a fine ash. I decided to help by using the rain in the air, collecting it and flinging it around, knocking Husks back before entombing them in ice. This worked pretty well until Matok showed up. He saw the Husks weren't doing well so he started killing and absorbing them in order to give himself more energy to work with. I told Cierra to take out the stragglers before he could eat them and summoned my Diviner.

I've fought Matok before, he's a crafty bastard, uses a spear called Ziegtem and flings around void energy. Void energy is kind of like, how should I describe this. Anti-Energy? Getting hit by it is a really horrible idea but it's easy enough to neutralize if you're me and can throw around a _lot_ of magic at will. Void neutralizes energy but the act also nulls out the Void so if you have enough energy you won't have to worry. Well you don't have to worry about having yourself erased from existence anyway. Matok is still a capable fighter with his spear and has numerous backup strategies for fighting me.

He employed one of his more common gambits, attacking other people so I break my guard to protect them. After a few failed attempts at getting past me to target Cierra, he gave up, falling back on the energy he'd gotten from the Husks to try and overwhelm me. He blew through his reserves pretty quickly before noticing that the armies around town were starting to really thin out. At that point he pulled a strategic retreat, knowing I'd let him get away so I could go check on everyone else all the faster. With our side of town settled, and the army well and truly thrashed, we went back home and waited on the others to trickle back in. I got healing ready and waited. What follows is what happened to everyone else to the best of my knowledge.

Ledah and Chris hit the western side of town and started reducing soldiers to ash. Chris knows how to deal with Husks so even in large numbers they really aren't a big deal to him. Eventually what was left of the army fell back around the same time Matok retreated. Chris and Ledah only sustained minor injuries during this brawl, which is pretty impressive considering. Even when he didn't know what they are Ledah had no trouble fighting Husks so I guess that isn't too surprising.

Ein, Fia, and Nardi faced much the same. Nardi was the star here, Ein and Fia being ill-suited to fight such large numbers. Nardi's destruction element really lends itself to fighting Husks. If it so much as clips them they're left seriously disabled, or, more likely, straight up dead. I'm a bit sad I missed this, it's a rare day that Nardi really performs above and beyond like that. Nardi took a hit to the back. Ein and Fia weren't to injured too badly, nothing disabling or life threatening at least.

Leon, Serene, and Kazé really benefited from all the rain. They can all use ice competently and that's exactly what they did. If they only had to fight the army of foot-soldiers they would have been perfectly fine and I would have had to clean up the new mountain of permafrost and dead bodies. However, their section of army was backed up by Scath. From their injuries and what Kazé told me, it didn't go well. Leon stepped up to fight one on one with him. Kazé, I guess, letting him do so. Leon took a Sephian to the shoulder before Kazé and Serene jumped in to save his ass. Again. He also wouldn't let them kill or even seriously injure Scath so they were forced to hold back against a Greater Demon. Kazé was still strong enough to force Scath to retreat but both he and Serene took a few hits.

In the end it was a victory for us. Matok picked the wrong target, or was just trying to keep me from single-handedly ruining the army's day. If he'd gone up against someone else we might have had a casualty or two. Scath, on the other hand, went right to where he could do the most damage. If Kazé had gone with _anyone else_ Scath would have defiantly killed Leon and probably Serene as well. If Scath wasn't such a massive sadist he'd have probably killed Leon already.

We all migrated back to Ein's and got the injured healed up. I asked Leon what he thought would have happened if Kazé or I were too far away from his fight to save him. He said he didn't care and was going to save his brother.

I'm honestly at a bit of a loss with Leon and Scath. I decided long ago that this was Leon's call, but if I ignore him and kill Scath myself Leon will live, but he'll never forgive me. But if I let him keep on as he is, he'll get himself killed. I _know_ Leon won't be able to save Jack on his own, I watched Alex, a much more experienced Angel, die trying the same damn thing. I just can't get that through his skull. I'm going to have a talk with Serene to see if she can get him to come to his senses.

Since Fia was exhausted, I took care of dinner. Fixed everyone something nice and soothing to reward them for doing so well. Afterwords, I took Serene outside and told her to try _something. _She agreed and we went on our separate ways. I headed home early and started working on enchants for a new scythe. I'll get Serene to come in tomorrow for it. Maybe she can use it to save Leon later. Cierra and the guys got in about an hour later, Cierra going straight to bed. Nardi bragged for a bit before giving into his own fatigue, falling asleep on the couch. Kazé and Chris came into my room to help me out for a bit before going to bed themselves. I turned in a little later. I'm going to enchant a pendant for Leon. Maybe I can figure out something to save the both of them.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em><em>I use the phrase army in this update a lot, it's more like 4 large squads of husks, but none of the characters realized this because they didn't have a good grasp of the situation. Husks can't be sensed you see, they're hollow. I guess the best way to describe a Husk is to call it a Dusk type nobody from Kingdom Hearts 2. Husks look like normal, albeit skinny, people though, and have weapons, but the similarity is there and I never really intended to have their names so similar. Crappy vocabulary I guess.<em>_

__I'm sure there's a few of you that remember where I'm going with Leon.  
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	14. Chapter 14

**Entry 13:**_ Bad problems, worse solutions_

_This might be the last entry for a bit, I'm in between homes right now and am about to move across the country. So yeah. I do have to entry 16 typed so hopefully I can edit and get those out at least for this week to resolve this half of the story.  
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><p>I did manage to come up with something Leon could try to free Jack with. This technique has a fair chance of success, if and only if I have enough time to teach it to Leon properly. However, it's still quite dangerous, and may end up killing Leon. The technique basically involves Leon removing his own soul and forcing it into Jack's body, effectively pushing Scath out by sheer overcrowding before returning to his own body. I don't think I need to explain how insanely dangerous this is.<p>

You may wonder why I'm not using the technique instead of Leon. Generally it only works well when the souls themselves are compatible. Leon being Jack's brother, they're almost perfectly compatible with each other.

Back to the danger, because there's lots of it. The first step alone is what will probably kill Leon. Removing your own soul is extremely difficult and generally results in the death of the user without years of training. You know, the years of training Leon _doesn't have_. Don't think badly of me yet, I haven't even entertained the thought of actually telling him this. There is a chance though. If Leon has a strong enough will he might be able to pull it off with that alone. A slim chance, but it's there. Even if he actually pulls off that first step, step 2 involves purging a Greater Demon from a body he's been using for years. Not an easy task by any stretch of the word. He might be able to get Jack to help him with this part, but it's highly likely that Jack will be so completely overshadowed that he won't be able to help at all. So, Say he wins and chases Scath off while bringing Jack back around from his suspended state (not easy), he then needs to force himself from Jack's body, or more likely have me remove him, before returning to his own body, which we will have to keep alive the whole time.

Essentially, while Leon's soul is gone, his body will be dead unless Kazé or I can keep it going. This will be fairly easy for us, provided he doesn't get hurt before or during the soul extraction. If he _does_ get hurt he's completely screwed. All curative magic works using the soul as a template to restore the body back to it's perceived status quo. Naturally if a body has no soul, there's no template that can be used to restore the body. This is why most healing spells will not only fail on Undead or Soulless beings but actually wind up doing damage to them. If it's not a bad injury basic first aid should be able to keep him alive long enough, but something serious will result in a number of ways he can die. If his body dies the whole process is completely ruined. Souls need their bodies to anchor them to the mortal coil, Souls can't go without bodies and bodies can't go without souls (for long anyway) meaning that if his body passes, Leon will be gone forever without even having the chance to attempt to free his brother.

Of course Greater Demons are a bit different, they don't have souls in the way normal living things do. All demons were made by The Origin to parody angels. His is a truly sick sense of humor. This brings us to Problem #47: Forcing Scath from his current body will put him in a state where he could easily jump into a suitable host, Leon's body being the most obvious choice if he doesn't get back in time. A soulless body would be extremely easy for him to take, but he could also take most anyone with varying degrees of effort. Also, if Leon dies in the process, but still manages to rear Jack and get Scath expelled, Scath can reanimate dead bodies easily. On top of the fact, that all of this will fall apart if we don't sufficiently weaken Scath first. The best case scenario would be if Scath attacked while Kazé or I are around Leon. We'd be able to subdue and weaken him first, allowing Leon to perform the technique with as little resistance as possible. Serene also may be able to incapacitate him with ice. Maybe.

That reminds me, Serene was up for having her weapon upgraded today. She and Leon stopped by and I fixed her scythe into something new and exciting. Troublesome thing about this was that I needed a lot more metal than the last upgrades so it took me an extra day of preparation before I could actually get to work. I think she was happy with the result though. I actually enjoy making scythes, so I have a few designs cluttered away in the back of my mind. I named this one the Nocte Infinitum, which translates out to Infinite Night, and I must say it's probably one of the better scythes I've ever made. The two of them were quite impressed with it, and of course Serene wanted to test it out right that second, something I have come to expect from her.

After heading out to the training field, I decided to have Leon and Serene fight together while I targeted Leon in an effort to simulate a battle with Scath. Serene managed to _kind of_ keep me busy while Leon launched a volley of special attacks in the general direction of my head. It didn't last too long before I eventually just overpowered Serene, forcing Leon to become more defensive towards her, giving me an opening to attack him. I told them that if they didn't shape up Scath was going to butcher them both. Unlike me, he won't hold back in the slightest. We decided to go for another round in which they did a bit better. It's good to see that they're rising to the challenge here. When Serene gets her new abilities sorted out she'll probably be much better equipped to keep Scath occupied until someone arrives to help. That is, if they're together, which I have trouble imagining them being apart for more than a few minutes at a time. After that I went back home to look for Kazé. Thankfully, he was there. I asked if I should tell Leon about the Soul overload so he could free Jack. He asked how many blows to the head I'd taken recently. "Apparently quite a few" was my answer.

We figured that Leon should at least be given the option. With that solved we went to Ein's place for dinner and were met with _dragon steak_. I asked where Fia got it and apparently Reiche gave it to her. That creepy, dog eared sprite had freaking _dragon steak_? Why? How? Anyway, after we finished eating I pulled Leon aside and said I had something extremely dangerous he could try. He said he'd do anything to get his brother back.

"Even die?" I said

"Even die." He replied.

Ok then, project 'Get Leon Murdered' is a go. I told him we'll start meeting after every training session to work on teaching him how to do this technique right. It won't be easy, but maybe, just maybe, we can actually pull this off and add Jack to our ranks. I wonder if what kind of effect being submerged in the darkness of a Greater Demon for so long will have on him. I've never really heard of getting someone back from something like this after so long. We'll probably have another partial darkness user. If we could give him a holy weapon maybe I could teach him how to use The Grey.

The Grey is what I use for my most powerful attacks. Holy and Darkness don't exactly play well together, instead annihilating each other. If you're strong enough, you can harness the massive amount of energy this releases. Because of the way it's created, The Grey isn't really a definable element, meaning nothing can really naturally resist it. And I mean nothing, not even The Origin can resist it. Granted, He's strong enough that he doesn't need resistance to anything really.

So, after I went over the basic theory with Leon along with the several hundred ways he could die while performing or even practicing this technique, we went back inside. It was getting a tad chilly outside so Fia had prepared some hot tea for us upon our return. I hope winter isn't on the way, I can't imagine that would be fun for a few of us.

Dinner had already wrapped up while we were outside so as we made our way back in, Ledah and Kazé were leaving for night patrol. Oh, forgot to mention this, I tripled patrol, now we make rounds in the morning, mid-day, and after dinner. Hopefully this will let us start actually spotting threats before explosions start going off. Cierra and I headed to the Magic Guild shortly there after, which resulted in me nearly bludgeoning Nardi into unconsciousness so he'd stop singing "Zero and Cierra sitting in a tree."

When we arrived, Soala greeted us, explaining that she was performing an experiment and wanted us to supervise. Glad she did too, she probably would have set half the town on fire if I hadn't made a few alterations to her setup. After we averted that disaster she continued and, honestly, I was quite impressed when she pulled it off. She was trying to replicate one of the enchantments I'd apparently been muttering to myself while looking through the guild for reagents a while back. She used it to make her staff more potent with Holy magic. It was good work for someone of her level, especially considering she was playing by ear. Every now and then it's nice to see I'm imparting things into people I'm not even training.

We headed home after that, Nardi and Chris greeted us when we got in. Nardi was sprawled on a couch just being lazy while Chris was reading Seight's diary again. Cierra asked if she could read over his shoulder and of course he agreed. I asked if they wanted any refreshments, prompting Nardi to order me around for a glass of water. I grabbed three, one for me, one to pour on Nardi's head, and one for him to actually drink. The result was quite hilarious. After he stalked of, Chris asked what kind of Diviner Seight had, since she hadn't mentioned it in the diary.

Seight used a blue-green double bladed spear called Freya. It's main element was holy with a side of every other element you can imagine. Seight was a masterful spell caster, but she was not afraid to get into close range, nor did she need to be. She always looked like she was dancing when she fought, coming across with a certain level of grace and dignity. I'm sure it would have been more enjoyable for the both of us if she didn't have to use said grace to kill things. I'm glad Chris is asking questions, he loves his mother even after all this.

Kazé got in a little after I'd gotten way off topic and we decided to turn in for the night. I need some rest so I can get up early in the morning to prepare some things for Leon. I'll write when we make some progress

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>I like how Ancient Memories has over twice as many chapters as ISNO Redux but is still just about the same amount of words. Also, unless you're extremely familiar with the game, you probably won't get the Reiche reference. In the game you can gather supplies for a fishing trip at Tetyth. Most of the time you'll catch a fish, but there's a chance you'll get a statue instead. Giving a fish to that cat girl Mursya the fish you get an item called a Cheer Bell. If you get the statue though you can give it to Reiche and he'll give you dragon steak in return. I guess Ein just caught the fish and Reiche held onto the dragon steak until now... Wait how did he keep it fresh for a few months? Uh... Dragon Steaks never naturally rot?<br>_


	15. Chapter 15

**Entry 14:**_ The Will to Save_

_Real short this one. I just wanted a buffer between the last chapter and what happens next to show progress is being made.  
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><p>Leon's potential is truly staggering. I think he can pull this off if he has another week to work at it. I've figured out a way to keep Scath off of us as well. I've killed enough Greater Demons in my time to have a fairly good understanding of how they work so I've made a pendant for Leon that will repel Scath. I made it out of a shard of crystal Ritz handed over by infusing it with essence of Longinus. The string is made out of a thread pulled from the ribbon attached to Longinus. That cloth is basically made out of Holy energy condensed into a solid, making it extremely good at keeping wards active. The one crystal should keep Scath's essence from getting near Leon's body, as well as provide Leon with some light protection against darkness.<p>

I'm optimistic, which is saying something in of itself. This is possible. We can get Jack back.

It is a little worrying that we've seen nothing from The Origin's forces for a week, but as long as I stick with Leon he should be fine. I told him that in the event of his injury he shouldn't attempt the soul overload. This also applies if any of the other conditions aren't right, Scath is a General and he needs Jack's soul alive, meaning there's no rush. No use getting himself killed prematurely. Maybe I could even capture Scath. We'll see. I know if Scath shows up alone he's screwed. Matok probably knows this too but I bet he won't be able to keep Scath's massive sadism in check long enough to do much. I'd give this about a 50% chance of success as we are right now.

Like I said before, it's been a week since I wrote last. I finally got around to making Lina an upgraded bow. I have an old friend named Cross who uses a nice Longbow which is what I modeled Lina's after. I wonder how Cross is doing right now. Ever since his brother passed away, Cross has been holding everyone at arms length. I suppose this is partially due to his sacrifice, one of the most horrible things I've ever seen the Magi take from an Angel. He doesn't like it when I tell people though so to the one, maybe two people who will ever read this, you'll have to ask him yourselves.

Anyway, Lina learned a few new abilities with the thing. She had to practice a bit more than the others but she was dedicated to at least being of some use. I'd make Ein a new sword but I want him to focus on his Diviner above all else for now. They're growing fast. Good to see my years can be of use to someone else in such a tangible way. After every training session, Leon and I work on his technique for the soul overload, from removing his soul to battling in the center of my mind. We usually get a few spectators for these sessions. Naturally, Serene always waits for Leon but sometimes Kaze, Ledah, or Cierra will join her. After a few hours we call it and have dinner as per usual. There haven't been too many developments this week, even relationship wise as far as I can tell. Then again I don't pay too close attention to that sort of thing. The only reason I knew so much before was because of Leon's constant jabbering. I suppose Nardi would take his place if I let him talk more.

On the topic of relationships, I think this is as far as I'll let things get between Cierra and me. I don't need another lover, just a group of friends. Besides she's a Sprite, her life span is much shorter than mine, naturally anyway, I'll probably be dead in the next few years at this rate. Also she's a bit too... Scatterbrained to me. It's rare, but she can be extremely annoying at times. Especially when cooking. She also tends to fumble minor spells, or is completely indecisive at times, which would get her killed if we were to pursue a romantic relationship. I heard from Ein that when the group first met her they were arguing about if she should use a Magic rope or a magic ladder. I swear, sometimes I just don't know what goes on in that head of hers.

I know it's useless to worry about the future at this point. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how everything works out. All I can do is get them ready.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>Don't worry, that isn't the end of the Cierra Zero relationship, this is just him putting his foot down, kinda. I still have a bit more of it to work with.<em>


	16. Chapter 16

**Entry 15**

_-I should have known better.-_

_-Why did I even let him try.-_

_ -This was avoidable.-_

_-I failed them all.-_

_-Again.-_

_-Never forgive myself for this_.-

_-I promised.-_

Leon's dead.


	17. Chapter 17

**Entry 16**: _First of Many_

_Double upload since entry 15 isn't exactly an entry. Ugh. Honestly, I don't remember the reasoning behind Leon dying. "What a twist" I suppose. It's completely impossible to do decent foreshadowing in journal form though because it's always an after action report. Well, impossible for everyone who isn't Zero I suppose._

_I suppose there's a spoiler to Yggdra Union in here. I wouldn't know how to avoid it though. It's in the last paragraph.  
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><p>It took me a bit to properly collect my thoughts. I'll start with the thing still weighing heavily on everyone's mind.<p>

There was a coordinated assault by Matok, Zvysok, and Scath. Matok went for Kazé and Chris, Zvysok for me, and Scath for Leon. I'd gone off to the Magic Guild to grab some supplies for training. It was only a five minute trip. They must have been lying in wait or something, watching us for hours.

Zvysok is a frenzied warrior, making him tough to fight and extremely annoying, especially since I was in such a hurry to get to Leon. He did his part, kept me busy for a few minutes too long. As I realized I needed to get to Leon I went all out on Zvysok. That much force was enough to damage the nearby caverns as well as down several trees around our battlefield. After he fell back I rushed over to Leon's location.

I was too late. Scath had managed to impale Leon while he and Serene were stalling for either Kazé or myself to arrive. Serene wasn't able to slow Scath down as much as I'd hoped. I overlooked Jack's initial element being Ice, giving Scath some rudimentary control over the element, which was apparently enough to free himself from a few ice prisons. Leon ignored everything I'd told him about waiting for the perfect time and tried to save Jack despite his quite severe injury. I got there just as Leon removed his soul and invaded Scath.

I tried. I tried really hard to keep Leon's body alive as long as possible. It only ended up going a few minutes before he bled to death. Despite having only those few minutes Scath fell due to Leon's actions. He hasn't woken up yet so I don't know if Leon actually succeeded. Most of the darkness infused to Jack has subsided though, a good indicator of Leon's efforts. It's unlikely that he actually freed Jack completely, but he may have significantly weakened Scath to the point where conventional means can be used to exorcise him.

It's been 2 days since all this took place. We'll just have to wait and see. That's all we can do. Matok must have noticed Leon's fading aura because he fell back around the same time, knowing he'd managed to hold Kazé off long enough.

Serene has shut down for the most part. She spends a vast majority of her time at Leon's grave. We buried him up on a hill overlooking town. I have a feeling that place will be a graveyard before this is all over.

Everyone wants me to talk to Serene. I'm not sure what they want me to say though. "Sorry I didn't blow up the town to save your boyfriend faster" would only make things worse. "Get over it, I've lost more friends than people you know several times over." while accurate is just inappropriate for the situation, especially considering she's the last of her kind. There's nothing I can think to say, nothing anyone could say. It doesn't matter. Everyone has their own way to deal with grief. Nothing we could say will make her get over this faster, or change the way she's dealing with the loss. It's not like I'm a paragon of knowledge when it comes to dealing with grief. I'm not doing all that great myself.

I won't beat myself up over this though. It won't help matters. Besides, I have a job to do. This doesn't change the fact that I couldn't save any of them. Not Leon, not his father, and most certainly not his brother. No. Maybe I can still save his brother. I won't know for sure until he wakes up though. The least I could do is try to finish the job, I've never been one to give up so quickly.

Everyone is trying to be there for Serene and I. My grief isn't as obvious but Kazé must have noticed how badly I'm taking this and told everyone to be supportive. Cierra especially, in her own clumsy awkward way for me at least. Ein and the girls have been there for Serene, I guess that's because they journeyed together before. She's not taking all this too well, as expected. She's started to seclude herself. When she isn't home she's at the grave. They're trying to get her to talk, but she's not really responding in any meaningful way. I think they want me to magically fix Serene, but I've done all I can.

I suppose I should mention the prep work that went into this catastrophe. I'd made everyone pendants from essence of Longinus. I'd thought about trying to break off pieces since that would be a bit easier but the Longinus is basically unbreakable. I'd even set up an array around town that would repel Scath's consciousness once Leon had freed him to keep the bastard from trying to take anyone else. It worked, for the most part. Scath, if he was forced from Jack's body, was unable to possess anyone else. Like I said I'm not sure of the ultimate outcome of all this. Either Scath was seriously injured or Leon actually pulled it off and Jack is just recovering from being overshadowed for so long.

I've been checking on him every few hours, being careful just in case. Serene has been avoiding my place, and by extension, Jack. We have Jack resting in my room, bound down just in case. I've been camping out on the couch in the main room while making hourly checks. I don't really need sleep so this isn't too much of a bother. I'm actually feeling a bit of optimism in all this chaos. Mainly because that's how the story is supposed to end. The good guys beat the evil demon back and save the day.

That's stupid. Things never work out like that. Of all people I should know this better than anyone. It _should_ end that way, but it won't. It never will. No matter how much I wish otherwise.

In this long life of mine I've come to realize that nothing lasts forever. Gods die. Angels are killed. Sprites age. Nothingness can be filled. Light fades. And darkness can be illuminated.

I suppose this is just the mood death puts me in. It's become sort of a coping mechanism by now. I expect death with people like myself and Agreth, not someone so young. Then again, I've watched boys walk into war and never return. The 4th Holy War. Easily one of the most devastating wars in all of history and the longest I can remember. The Magi went insane trying to replicate Ancient Ones. Especially Hector. The demons, the humans, the sprites, and especially the Fallen Ones all rose up against Asgard. Their justice weighed against our own. It wasn't a good time to be bound to the will of the Magi. I didn't really want to fight. The humans even had a reason to be pissed after all the damage caused by the Fallen One Nessiah. Nessiah's motives being another rant for another time. I didn't have a choice though. I was stationed at Heaven's Gate as the final line of defense. My only orders were to kill everything that wasn't an angel. There weren't too many Ancient Ones back then. Ragnarok cut us down to 4. Thyr was the 4th along with Seight, Agreth, and I. One of the best spell casters I've ever seen. Probably better than the Magi themselves. Unfortunately, he died destroying one of the Origin's fortresses about 400 years ago.

When you live as long as I do you see a lot of death. I'm going to check on Jack one last time before I take another nap. I'll write when/if he wakes up.

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><p><em>Did I mention this line of entries are gonna be rather short. At least I'm still on schedule. I'm going to make explaining the various references to the actual games a thing.<em>

_This reference is pretty simple. I got the Ending in Yggdra Union where we charged into Asgard and tried to kill everything. It'll get expanded on a bit more but Nessiah is basically (Spoilers) The main antagonist of the game. I'm taking serious liberties with the thing anyway. It's like, I butchered the story of the game to fit in all the OCs but then I tried to patch it up with all these references to explain things from canon that no longer make sense in this Universe.  
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_**-Ø-**_


	18. Chapter 18

**Entry 17: **_He actually did it_

_Introducing Jack into the story. This is the end of Leon's arc and the start of Jack's, if you can call them that. I also felt like taking a stab at how quick my romances used to be by having the only fast romance (Between Serene and Jack) be... Unhealthy, to say the least. Again Light spoilers for Yggdra union, but I can't avoid them. It's the last one of these though.  
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><p>That crazy bastard actually fought Scath off in the few minutes he had!<p>

Jack woke up today, fatigued, but back to normal. After hundreds of years of being overshadowed, I'm glad to see he hasn't changed too much. From what I can tell the others are having trouble figuring out how to react. We lost Leon to save someone they don't really know yet. Kazé and I are helping Jack the adjust the best we can, on top of trying to get him combat ready. This is a minor victory. A Greater Demon has been stripped of it's host. Granted, a new one can be provided, but I doubt it will match strength with the body of a Grim Angel. Serene's still not doing so well, I've been neglecting my duty when it comes to her. As a side note, Jack seems to have some of Leon's memories. He already knew everyone's names and seems to act strangely in Serene's presence. This is probably due to the remnants of Leon's soul being absorbed into his. I wouldn't be too surprised if he could use Leon's diviner or knew some of his techniques. We haven't taken him out for training to confirm this though. There will be a time and a place for that. Right now we need to focus on getting him used to actually using his body again.

He's also got a bit of Leon's cheerful attitude. I expect this to pass eventually as Jack's soul stabilizes. Normally Jack's rather quiet and contemplative, maybe even a bit somber at times. He's the sort of silent but kind guy our group has yet to include.

I thought about introducing Serene to Jack, figuring it could work out well for the both of them. She can see Leon in jack a few more times and be eased into Jack's true character. Ran the idea by Cierra and she seemed to think it was fine. I didn't want to force the two of them together though, there's no way that could end well. For a while there I was worried about Jack having to sleep on the couch in the living area of my place, but after dinner I see that all that worry was pointless.

I got word from the Magi that Agreth may be heading my way. He didn't see much in Helheim apparently. He must want to have words with me or something. He'll have to come back in through Heaven's Gate either way.

I should probably explain that again. Heaven's Gate is connected to every world, giving Asgard quick and easy access when they need it. It's a bit of a step up from the Bifrost Bridge, which only connected Asgard to Helheim, but that was destroyed in the war that killed The Gods. There _was_ a guardian named Marietta who watched over Heaven's Gate, but she was killed in the 4th Holy War by a group of humans. Ever since then Grim Angels have been much more active in policing the place themselves. We can't have a repeat of the 4th Holy War where every race flooded into the place one by one and murdered everything they saw. Back then the humans lead the charge, actually managing to get past Marietta and a few experimental Ancient Ones using a sword they'd apparently stolen from the Fallen One Nessiah. They weren't a match for real Ancient Ones, backed up by real Grim Angels, even with a sword powered up by the malice and hatred of human wars. They started calling that war Ragnarok due to the total annihilation of a few races, and very heavy loss of life for others. Apparently Hector was the one instigating all this so he could replace the Gods, and even the Origin. He was completely insane if you ask me. A lot of the Magi are like that, but at least they can keep themselves under control.

Back on the topic of Agreth, it'll be nice to have him here. If I can talk him into training the others we'll be able to speed up significantly.

At dinner a lot of the things I'd been worrying about sort of resolved themselves. Serene latched onto Jack almost like a vice. She even invited him to stay at her place.

I'm a little worried that she may be doing this to- I don't want to say _replace_ Leon, but that's pretty accurate. I'm sure she'll eventually come to be friends with Jack himself. Hell, he even seems to have retained Leon's love for her. Sure, the thought is a little creepy, but honestly any kind of happiness would go a long way at this point. Everyone started taking a shine to Jack after dinner. Ledah's still a little weary about the idea of Scath just faking this so he can butcher us in our sleep but I assured him that Scath's too completely insane to pull that off well.

I told Jack to join in on training sessions whenever he was ready, but even if he doesn't participate, he should at least watch every session. After dinner we headed our separate ways. I actually went out to the roof of my place, the stars were out, the moon was full, and there was a nice breeze.

Cierra decided to join me at some point. I had been dozing off before I heard her start up the ladder. Then the latter fell and I had to rush out and catch it before she toppled a few stories to the ground. I don't know if it's just her or if the universe just really doesn't like her too much, but she has the worst luck imaginable. I figure it's 75% her 25% the universe, if not closer to 60-40. At least it's that sort of charming incompetence rather than being flat out annoying. I asked her if things had always been like that and she regaled me on a tale of getting Ein and company lost while being only a few hundred feet from their destination.

Apparently they got trapped in a perpetual maze, it's a a spell found on a few old ruins that sort of loops a small area and really messes with your perception, forcing you to walk in circles forever. There was a puzzle that they eventually figured out, but she remembered something and left abruptly rummaging through her stuff before returning with a doll. It looked more like a puppet to me, with a bit of smoke coming out of its eyes. Cierra told me no one else liked it but Ein let her keep it anyway. I don't see why it was outwardly repulsive to the girls honestly, it isn't especially odd. She did say she's washed it a few times and they found it in a perpetual maze, it'd probably gathered quite a stench from being there for a while. Poor thing's left arm was about to fall off so I offered to fix the thing for her if she wanted.

I wasn't expecting the hug that came with that offer, but I didn't mind too much. We'd been out there for about an hour and it was getting kind of chilly so we went back in and headed to my room. I took the doll to my work bench and got a needle and tried to color match the thread as best as possible. The thing had quite a few little defects that I tried to patch up to the best of my ability. Cierra was quite pleased with the result and rewarded me with another hug before going to bed.

You know, I came into this mission fully ready and honestly, expecting, to die. I thought my world was broken with Seight's death. I have to make the world a better place for Chris and these Sprites to live in. I can't let my second home be burned to ash.

I'll write again when we start training with Jack.

_** -Ø-**_

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><p><em>Hooo- boy. 3 references this time.<em>

_The first is The Bifrost Bridge. For those unfamiliar, it comes from Norse mythology, if you saw the movie Thor, it's kind of nothing like that, It's just a bridge that lets you bypass most of the worlds instead of having to jump. It gets destroyed in Ragnarok which took place before the Grim Angels were created in this continuity. Winning Ragnarok was the reason the Grim Angels were created in the first place. Anyway I made it's ruins eventually wind up Heaven's Gate, only since it's broken it's chained to every world to make travel easier.  
><em>

_Second: Another Yggdra Union reference, Once again light spoilers. The Human Army Zero is talking about is in fact The Royal Army you play as in Yggdra union, Yggdra herself heading it. The Sword he mentions is the Gran Centurio Yggdra uses. It was made by Nessiah, a fallen Grim Angel, as a way to destroy Asgard (Specifically Hector) by filling it with the souls lost in countless human wars, or something. Anyway when you beat him you can chose to take justice to Asgard itself, and march into Heaven's gate, butchering everything in your way. You run into a prototype of Malice but since I've done extensive damage to how Grim Angels work I had to rework it into an artificial Ancient One. The Great thing is Yggdra union is the first of the Dept Heaven Series, thus, If you didn't stop Nessiah from getting his completely justified revenge, He would have killed Hector. The guy responsible for everything bad that happens in the series to date. Good going Royal Army!_

_Finally: Cierra is recounting the party's adventure in Nelde Ruins, where, when Cierra joins you, she offers a shortcut to an area that's literally 2 screens away and gets you trapped in an endless maze with an annoying puzzle. It sucks. The Doll she has is The Aran Doll. You can find it in said maze. The rest of the girls tell you to toss it because it's ugly and smells burnt while Cierra remains silent. If you keep it Cierra gets a ton of affection for Ein, while pissing off everyone else basically. Oh and if you toss it, it somehow GETS OUT OF THE MAZE AND BEATS YOU TO THE RUINS ENTRANCE. It's seriously one of the more disturbing things in Riviera._

_I know way too much about this series.  
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	19. Chapter 19

**Entry 18**_: Still Training  
><em>

_At this point I'm starting to draw blanks on things that still need explaining. I got the Fallen ones (Kinda) a summary on the wars, and most everyone Zero's been name dropping. Let me know if I've missed something.  
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><p>I've come to a few realizations over the last 3 days.<p>

1: Leon's soul is still inside Jack's body and in tact. I'm not quite sure how this happened. Jack must just be capable of supporting more than one soul now. It could be because they're brothers. It could be some other crazy circumstance. I'm not sure. I had been sensing Leon's aura in Jack's for some time and finally decided to see if Jack knew why. It turns out Leon is still in there, helping his brother out from beyond the grave. I can only hear Leon's voice telepathically and only when he's addressing me, which explains why I haven't noticed before. We decided that, until I figure out a flawless way to bring Leon back to life, we'll keep this a secret. Last thing we need is to give everyone false hope. First thing though, I need to figure out something for Jack. This whole 2 active souls in the same body is alright for now, but it could shorten his lifespan and start draining his energy quite a bit, among other things.

2: Jack's element _has_ been effected by Scath. He can use darkness on top of his natural Ice and Leon's Holy element. I'm going to start training him in how to use the Gray, providing a massive boost to our firepower. Well, it'll be a boost provided he can actually learn it. Gray is extremely destructive and hard to control. I would be hesitant to train near town unless the sprites want to be reduced to a fine ash. Well, it wouldn't reduce the entire town to a smoking crater from the training field, but an uncontrolled explosion is never a good thing, especially near people.

3: Jack's current fighting skill has taken a bit of a drop because of the years of inactivity. I expected as much but it's a little worse than I thought it would be. We need to get him back up to speed as soon as possible. You never know when a General is going to roll into town and start ruining things. That said, they've been pleasantly quiet lately. Hopefully we won't get another huge invasion.

4: Serene defiantly needs help. She's latched onto Jack because Leon's ghost is in there. Despite Jack's personality shining through she still hasn't let go. I assume it has something to do with the fact she lost her entire race and doesn't know how to handle _more_ loss. She's not coping well and honestly this whole situation could be leading to a really bad conclusion. I think Leon realizes what he's doing is wrong but he just loves Serene so much he wants to be close to her any way he can, to the point of encouraging Jack to pursue a relationship with her. I talked to the other girls and they agreed to see what they could do. I specialize in extremely rough therapy. It gets the job done, but the people I help this way tend to hate my guts so I avoid it whenever possible.

Other than that things have been calming down quite a bit. But something's looming in the background. We're a bit unstable at the moment. Sure things are fine at a glance but Serene is a ticking time bomb at this point. If we don't get this handled soon something is going to go horribly wrong.

I've been having longer training sessions for a few people, mainly Cierra. Maybe if I work on it hard enough we can get her to stop blowing things up on accident. I've been teaching her some new spells and working on her spell casting specifically. Another lacking point is her versatility. If I need someone or something burned to ashes she's my girl but there's a noticeable drop on everything else, except maybe holy but we've got other people for that. I also started on her close range combat a bit. We've got a few foes who can shrug magic and atomization off (mainly The Origin) so she needs to be able to at least passably fight with a rapier so she can get away without losing limbs. She's dedicated at least, and picking up most everything quickly enough. She'll never be up to Seight's level but it'll be interesting to see how close she can get.

I've also been working with Chris more than normal. He also has the potential to use the Gray. If I can train him and Jack to be even a fraction as good as I am we'll be able to deal with Generals quite easily. We've got one down, I just need the other 3 out of my way by the time of our final battle. I doubt I could beat all 3 and The Origin in a free for all, or even sequentially, so I need the others to take those 3 down for me. The Origin just isn't a foe you can hold back on in the slightest. If you go into a fight with Him at anything less than full power, He'll generally kill you. Hell, even at full power He tends to take out even the best angels. The sick thing is that He's been getting weaker due to all the damage we've done to Him over the years. It's been slow going but there's a sizable gap from what He was during the original Ragnarok and what He is now.

I haven't heard back from Agreth yet, but I can tell he's in Riviera. It probably won't take him too long to sniff me out and make it here. Let's hope he isn't too mad at me for the dull mission. He won't kill me, but I doubt I'd be able to walk right for a few days if we had it out. Crazy bastard.

Anyway that's all I have to report at this point. It's been slow, even with everything that's happening to Leon. Hopefully it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. I'm feel a bit on edge about all this. Whatever.

**_ -Ø-_**

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><p><em>No references that need explaining this time. A little more talk on The Origin. Turns out thousands of years of war can even wear out Gods. I kind of want to start summarizing what happens in the 3rd book but it'd be spoilers. I'll probably just do a big epilogue of ISNO:R when I get back to updating it. <em>


	20. Chapter 20

**Entry 19**:_ Pushed off the Edge_

_I feel a bit schizophrenic about what is dropped from INO and what isn't. I drop Lilly, Kino, and Max, Leon's arm getting cut off, most of the technology and such, but keep stuff like this.  
><em>

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><p>I did a very stupid thing when we buried Leon. I let Serene have the pendant I'd made him. If only I hadn't. Hindsight is 2020 I guess. I didn't think they'd be able to pull something like that. I hadn't even considered it really.

It's been a while since I saw a single event throw such a rift into a group of friends.

The thing that gets me is that this was preventable. Very preventable. I let my guard down and underestimated the power of grief of all things. I even knew Serene needed help but did nothing to help her myself, opting to let other people do it for me because it was 'too hard.' Sometimes its hard to get over how much of a damn coward I am.

The Origin raised a body snatcher from who knows where. One powerful enough to steal the body of a Grim Angel. He sent it to Riviera, and it stole Leon's body.

From what I understand, Serene had gone to visit Leon's grave alone. When she got there she found _Leon_ waiting for her. She was so grief stricken she instantly latched onto him, despite the complete impossibility of such an event. When Jack went to visit the grave himself he spotted Leon as well. Leon's body anyway. He knew it wasn't Leon and tried to convince Serene of this. Didn't work in the slightest. Leon's body attacked. When Jack tried to defend himself with a counter attack Serene stopped him with her own assault. By the time I got there Jack was in pretty bad shape. He wouldn't hurt, or even try to stop, Serene and couldn't get her to listen to reason so she and Leon just beat him to a pulp, completely unhindered.

He was frozen to a tree when I stopped Serene from beheading him. Fia and Ein were on my heels so they were able to help me a bit, Fia on healing and Ein on restraining Serene. I knew I had to either disable or immobilize Serene before I could take care of the body snatcher. Ended up just knocking her out before getting blindsided by Zvyok. I knew Ein and Fia wouldn't be able to kill the body snatcher because of who's skin he was wearing and I knew they wouldn't be able to handle Zvyok either. I fought both for a bit before telling them to get Serene and Jack out of the area.

I was about to go full force when Agreth showed up like a beam of light cutting through a stormy cloud cover. I've never been so happy to see him in my life. Well. Almost never. He kept Zvyok busy while I did what I had to. Serene, of course, woke up right when I reduced Leon's body to dust, flying into a rage and nearly impaling me on her scythe. Jack, for some reason, jumped in the way, taking a scythe through his gut. This barely slowed Serene down, but it was enough for Agreth to knock her out for me. Glad he didn't just kill her. He had a bit better grasp on the situation than I would have expected.

Anyway, Zvyok fought for a little bit before retreating to fight another day. He knew the two of us would absolutely murder him I guess.

As a side note: I was completely wrong about why Agreth was heading my way. He didn't tell the Magi everything. Apparently the Fallen Ones have rebuilt their stronghold and are starting to gather under one roof. He wanted to come get me and have the two of us go and wipe them out. I told him I'd need to inspect it myself after I deal with The Origin. He wasn't terribly thrilled with this but he did agree to join me if it meant stopping The Origin faster.

We headed back to Ein and Fia's where they were already busy patching Jack up. Serene was still out cold, Agreth was never one to pull his punches, and Jack was in critical condition. We managed to stabilize him for now. He's in bad shape and it'll probably take him a while to recover. We weren't quite sure what to do about housing. Kinda figured leaving Jack over at Serene's wouldn't be the best of ideas. I still have a room left over but with the addition of Agreth we were in a bit of a bind. Nardi offered Cierra to stay in my room which nearly got him set on fire and stabbed repeatedly before Chris offered to stay with me. It sounded like a good opportunity to spend a bit more time with him than normal so I said it sounded fine. Agreth is up on the 3rd Floor with Nardi now, which sort of seems like a disaster waiting to happen for me. I'm not worried about Nardi pissing him off, they've always gotten along really well. It's just. Nardi tends to get in himself in trouble a lot, and Agreth tends to make it a lot worse before I can clean up the mess.

Agreth eventually introduced himself into the whole group in a rather dramatic fashion. Even had a nice pillar of fire as a backdrop. He's put some time and effort into practicing that to say the least. Then again, there isn't much you haven't done when you're as old as we are. His inclusion to the team is going to force me to rework the training rounds _again_. At least it will make things easier again, especially considering how strong he is. I'll have to hammer it out with him so we can all agree on the times.

We did some shuffling of things and moved the unconscious Jack in. He probably won't wake till tomorrow, that kind of injury doesn't heal fast even with high level magic patching him up. Thankfully if he gets any worse he's in my house so I'm always on standby.

Serene woke up after we'd moved Jack. She was still in hysterics, trying to figure out where Leon was. That is, until Fia came right out of left field and slapped her. Didn't see that coming. Apparently, neither did Serene because it sure seemed to calm her down a bit. Nobody is really _mad_ at serene, but everyone knows how badly she handled this. If anything they're most angry about what she did to Jack, who she seemingly forgot existed until Fia reminded her. I bet Serene will realize how far she went over the edge in a few days and will feel really bad. I honestly don't know how Jack or Leon will react to this. On that note I haven't heard from Leon despite trying to speak to him. I assume if Jack gets knocked out so does Leon.

Dinner was awkward to say the least. Everyone knew what I did to Leon's body had to be done, but they didn't like it. Even worse, there was a stranger talking about his top ten favorite battles fought along side me. I didn't feel like stopping him. Honestly it was better than moping about everything that just happened. Also if I'd been moping I wouldn't have been able to _correct_ a few of the gross inaccuracies in his stories. After that interlude Agreth set his ground rules with everyone. He basically has 3 things he wants from anyone who works with him. Don't annoy him, don't question his methods, and don't die. I think once tonight settles everyone will be a bit more receptive towards him. I expect that he's realized this too and was trying to lighten the mood in his own way. I left dinner a bit early and Agreth came with.

What came next surprised me. He said he'd heard about Seight and that he felt for me. He asked if Leon and Jack were Alex's kids too. When I confirmed he just shook his head. "Bummer" was all I could get out of him. He said he'd help with training wherever he could, that he trusted my judgment when it came to things like that. I said I still wanted to work it out with him there but he said I didn't need to bother.

"We're all that's left now. We have to stick together."

Who would have thought Agreth of all people would be the calming influence I needed right now. He headed off to sleep while saying he'd had a long trip and needed a good 24 hours of rest. Nothing I have can wake him normally anyway so I just nodded along. When I saw Cierra and Chris leave Ein's I joined them for the walk home.

When we were well out of sight Cierra started holding my hand and Chris just straight up hugged me. They said that everyone knows how hard today must have been for me. I just said it had to be done and left it at that. Sometimes I'm the only one that can do what absolutely needs to be done, either because no one else can or no on else will. We got home and I set up my cot, letting Chris take the bed. He objected but I said I didn't mind.

I smiled for probably the first time today when I realized how similar Chris is to his mother sometimes. He's been sitting around reading what I have with me while I write just like Seight used to. Even turns pages the same way she does. He was pretty quiet when I let him know. Anyway I'll write whenever Jack wakes up and we settle in on training.

_** -Ø-**_

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><p><em>If Jack didn't have the potential for Gray, he would be catastrophically far behind everyone else. Seriously. That was a cool feature he had the first time but it's a must this time. He spends a good chunk of the story completely crippled. Also injuries tend to stay a bit longer than in the first version. I wanted them to have a bit more weight behind them. Also AGRETH! I love Agreth. He's fun. Lots of fun.<br>_


	21. Chapter 21

**Entry 20**: _Road to recovery_

_More training!  
><em>

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><p>It's been about a week. Jack woke up the a day after the last entry. He's been bed ridden until today. Even with my powers, injuries like that take a while to fully heal. When he woke up he was pretty depressed about recent events. I guess he figured out Serene and Leon were both kind of using him to feel close to each other again. She tried to come in yesterday and apologize but Jack flat out told her to leave him alone. It's gonna take a non insignificant amount of time to get them back on speaking terms again. At least Serene finally realizes how badly she messed up now. Leon was a bit angry at her, but more at himself for letting this whole thing happen and using his brother. Jack's not terribly angry with him though. Jack says Leon was pretty open with his intentions so I guess Jack had some feelings for her too. Their plan is just to ignore her for the most part. I told them they'd eventually have to work together in a fight, to which Serene said that she'd do anything to protect Jack. And Jack says he doesn't want her to <em>die<em> he just doesn't want to talk to her. A life is still a life, no matter how much it pisses you off.

I worked out the new schedules for training. Here's the rundown of last week's progress. I'm listing by name instead of fight since there were many, many, more fights than normal

Ein: He, Chris, and Nardi have been slowly but surely improving through their little free for all brawls. To speed things up, I added Kazé to the equation. Since he can use all elements, he was able to help all of them at the same time. Ein's refined his Disaresta skill, making it much more concentrated as well as faster to charge and unleash. Still can't use Angel Awakening mode but his base power has gotten much higher. We also worked on his long range attacks. He was already at least passable with bows, at least as good as Cierra with them, but we wanted to give him a few more options. He's learned a few ranged holy attacks he can use with the Einherjar to give him a few more options.

Ledah: I handed him and Serene over to Agreth for most of their training. Agreth can teach Ledah some elemental abilities that go really well with fire and help Serene train with her cumbersome choice in weapons. Ledah's added some earth elemental spells to his repertoire as well as proficiency with an earthen war hammer Agreth gave him. Agreth's also working on Ledah's magic defenses by basically shooting him with spell after spell until Ledah loses consciousness then waking him up and giving him a little time to rest before repeating the process. It's a crude method to say the least but easily one of the more effective ones out there.

Fia: Everyone else is working with me on cycles of individual lessons and group fights. Fia's healing has improved considerably and she's learned quite a few powerful attacks from her new Rapier and Lina's bow. She an also actually hit me with her long ranged attacks. Well. She would hit me if I hadn't defended against her arrows with the Longinus. She's still not quite as good as Lina with long range but she can easily switch between that, close range combat, and healing without any measurable drop in skill. She's easily one of the more versatile sprites I've ever met.

Lina: Her accuracy has improved by a sizable margin. Even when she's firing 5-10 arrows at once, something I never thought she'd be able to pull off well with those small hands of hers. She's also learned a few new tricks from the weapons I made. Eventually she broke me down and I made her some claws to compliment her old fighting style. The condition was that she had to be willing to really work with them instead of just flailing around wildly. She actually agreed and as such, her close range combat actually has style and flow to it, even with scythes. She might not be able to actually kill a General with those claws, but they'll certainly lose quite a bit of blood from all the lacerations. She can also fire fast enough to replace all the air in a 2' by 2' square with arrows. I'm honestly impressed with how much better she's gotten over time.

Serene: I wish I could convey a sigh in written form. You'll just have to settle with imagining it. She's still quite shaken from last week, making her quite unfocused, to the point of actually inhibiting her growth. She's learned some new tricks from the various weapons but lately she hasn't been practicing outside of training sessions. I'm going to finally talk to her about everything tomorrow, see if I can get her to start trying again. She's still the close range expert of Ein's original group, but she's starting to get overshadowed by my family and Ein himself. Agreth doesn't really address her craziness in training, which is why I'm going to have to. She's getting better at being defensive, but I've always been of the mindset that the best defense is a good offense.

Cierra: Cierra has been doing quite well, even compared to the others. I've made her an ice based staff and have been working on dual wielding them. It's tough to use two opposing elements at the same time, but she's getting it. Aside from Chris she's got the most to learn with close range combat being a focus as well. I'll have a sword made for her in the next few days that will amplify her magic a bit as a nice transition between her two fighting styles. Ever since the thing with Leon and especially after Serene's meltdown she's been really working hard on training. She's always been serious when in battle, putting aside her clumsy nature to do what needs to be done, but now she's putting far more effort into becoming more stable even outside of battle. It's a change for the positive combat wise but I don't think I can imagine Cierra without her ditzy nature. I don't think I _want_ to imagine that.

Chris: I've been working with Chris on top of Kazé's training to help him use Gray. It's very tough thing to learn as I've stated before, and you have to be slow and steady unless you feel like reducing yourself and your half of the world to dust. That said, he's learning rather quickly. His Sigoir is naturally darkness based but Chris has infused it with plenty of Holy energy over the years to compliment his nature a bit more. I told him to ease off the Holy energy focus on Sigoir and instead focus it on his other hand. I'm working on another gauntlet to help amplify this so he can dual wield a bit more easily, although he's naturally ambidextrous so that's a huge start. If he focuses Holy and Darkness on different hands at the same time he can fuse the two outside his body and do whatever with the result. Again the problem crops up with using opposing elements, and none oppose each other quite as violently as Holy and Darkness. We're still working on laying the ground work for using both elements since the process is long, complicated, and extremely dangerous. You've gotta be good at step one before you can try step two. On Kazé's side of training he's been working on Chris's focus, to help with some of his control issues. In addition, fighting Ein has really helped with Chris's Holy resistance and proficiency as well as forcing him to use darkness to counter Ein.

Nardi: After Leon's passing Nardi started taking training more seriously. The two of them were pretty good friends, so I guess revenge might be in play here. Agreth works with Nardi on the side to help with his fire spells. I've been working on how to deal with his balance issues lately. The problem with training Nardi is that his power can fluctuate wildly from day to day, and even mid battle. Sadly I'm drawing a blank with how to overcome this. It is his sacrifice after all, you can't just get rid of those. The best we've been able to come up with is just to work on his base skill level rather than enhancing his powers. That way he won't need them quite as much and will be able to get along fine without them. Kazé has been working on this as well, and on the whole group's speed in general. Nardi, Chris, and Ein are all noticeably faster than they were before, in both reaction time and raw speed. Kazé is also pretty good at teaching how to combat several elements at once because of his own diverse skill set. Working on Nardi's raw skill and defense is what I'm going to focus on for now.

Kazé, Agreth, and I have been working off each other recently. Agreth and I don't really have any room to improve at this point, but Kazé has gotten a bit stronger. There isn't a better way for us to practice our skills than to have to teach them to someone else. Kazé's endurance has always not been his greatest quality, so Agreth has been working on that by beating him to within an inch of his life, healing him, then repeating. Now that I think about it, that's kind of what Agreth does best. Well, can't argue with results I suppose.

Jack: Jack needs some rehab first, but once he gets fully healed I'll start training him as much as possible. He's got a bit of catching up to do now. Like I said he actually got up and about today, which is a good sign. At least he doesn't need to relearn the basics He's also let his anger build up to a slightly unhealthy level, which, while understandable, is something we'll have to work out before he get's someone in trouble. He should make a full recovery before the next week is up. I'm not quite sure how long it'll take to catch him up, and my schedule is already pretty tight, but I'm sure I can figure something out.

On a side note, I put up a divider in the springs to split it into a side for the girls and a side for us guys after... The incident. I'd rather not think about it. Ever again.

Chris and I have gotten to spend a lot more time together than normal, even with my day as busy as it is. It's really nice to get to spend time with him again. I know it must be rough for him since I'm always off on dangerous missions. I honestly wish I could do more for him, but with my sacrifice as it is, I can't stay home long. He gets by alright normally. I have a lot of friends that drop by often to make sure everything's running fine, on top of his coping mechanism of basically being the nicest kid he can possibly be. This does tend to get him in a lot of odd situations, due to his ability to be talked into anything rather easily. Sometimes he can even get me or another high ranking angel to solve simple problems like delivering a note, fixing a roof, or trading random trinkets to find that one someone's been looking for. I guess it's a way to spend the day.

Also, in light of.._. The Incident_. Apparently I come off as so chivalrous that the girls literally do not care if I see them only clad in towels, or less in some cases. Sure they scream and hid from anyone else, slinging accusations of perversion and pedophilia, but Me? Or Chris sometimes? A few blushes and averted eyes. That's also the last thing I'm ever going to mention of... _The Incident_. Ever. I'm serious. Never ask me.

And as I mentioned before, I'm talking to Serene tomorrow. She's probably going to hate me for what I have to say, but at this point it really needs to be said. She can't go on clinging to those who have died for the rest of her life.

Anyway that's all for this week, I'll write again when something big happens, or at the end of the week again.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>I don't think "The Incident" Happened in the first draft. Oh well. Again with everyone's growth. I noticed that I've kind of left Rose out, but it's a journal from Zero's perspective and they don't interact much. She can't even fight so no training for her. Agreth will get a bit more back story eventually. He's basically a gruffer, more aggressive version of Zero. Hah, Agreth, Agression, I just noticed that, completely unintentional.<br>_


	22. Chapter 22

**Entry 21: **_Dozorca Enters_

_Last villain to be introduced. I guess The Origin really hasn't been described yet, but we'll get there.  
><em>

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><p>I was wondering how long it would take for mister perfect to show himself. I guess The Origin decided to up the ante a bit.<p>

It's been about 3 days since I last wrote. Jack's rehab has been going well, to the point where his training will start within the next day or so. Nardi, Ledah, and I were taking him on a walk when we ran into Dozorca. The guy uses two different weapons with different elements. He has a Holy based Longsword which he uses with his right hand, and a Darkness based rapier he uses in his left. And yes, he can use the Gray. He's not as good as I am, but any Gray can do serious damage. He can also throw around any other element so he tried to play to our weaknesses, attempting to freeze Ledah and roast Jack. I didn't let it work out as well as he'd hoped it would, but he kept us occupied for a bit. I was more concentrating on making sure Jack didn't get hurt _more_ than actually defeating Dozorca so I took a few hits to say the least.

Eventually, Agreth, Kazé, Fia, and Ein showed up to help. With Kazé covering Jack, Agreth, Ledah, and I went to town on Dozorca. We managed to rough him up pretty badly. Then _The Origin Himself_ showed up. Yeah. That happened. The reason he doesn't do his dirty work too often is because over the 11000 years of war, He's been damaged severely. To the point where He starts to fragment if He leaves His fortress in the void for too long. I think that's what the spires are for, to bring the void into Riviera and then launch an assault on Asgard.

Back on topic, The Origin kind of chuckled at our gathered forces as everyone else arrived on the scene. He introduced Himself after I tried to kill Him with one of my more powerful attacks. Didn't work, He nearly tore my arm off. I couldn't go all out without hurting everyone gathered, much less go into Angel Awakening mode to stand a chance. A fight between the two of us could easily annihilate the town if we went all out. Agreth put himself at the front of the group so The Origin would have to get through him first. The Origin just laughed at us some more while letting out a wave of power, collecting Dozorca, and then just leaving. It was enough to knock the wind out of most of us and let us get a glimpse of how powerful He actually is. I never would have guessed He'd show himself like this. It was enough to rattle the group. We went back to Ein and Fia's and got Ledah, Nardi, and myself patched up. Agreth was a little scuffed up, but he said he'd be fine. I set my left arm so it'd regenerate faster and cast a few healing spells to speed up the process and fix my various other wounds. I'll be back to normal in a day or two, my body heals extremely fast.

Everyone else was worried about how much stronger The Origin was. Even diminished, and under a time limit He's a tough opponent for even Agreth and myself, let alone collected and in his castle. Agreth was quick to inform the group that he and I had never really displayed our full strength to the group yet, which helped a little. After all, Agreth and I have to jump through a few hoops to lower our strength enough to where we don't straight up kill anyone we try to train. Although, The Origin might have shot himself in the foot by giving the name a face, as well as confirming that He is the cause of all our suffering, rather, the suffering of all living things. After everyone gets their acts together I bet they'll be all the more resolved to fight against the bastard.

That said, Kazé, Agreth, and I are working on opening a portal big enough for everyone that will take us to His castle. This wont be the first time we've done this, but it still takes forever. See, his stronghold is basically a free floating castle in the void of nonexistence, making it extremely mobile for a castle. And the void is just such a large area to cover, it takes a lot of preparation and patience to find the place.

Training is still going well. Agreth and I are going to show off our Angel Awakening modes as soon as we find a big field outside Elendia. Shouldn't be too hard to find one. Hopefully seeing us go all out will show everyone that we still have a chance despite how powerful The Origin is.

Another thing that helped was Cierra pointing out that the two of us _have_ to be stronger than we're letting on, since we've fought and beaten The Origin before. Not individually of course, but still.

I talked to Serene yesterday too. She tried to tell me I had no idea what it was like to lose what she's lost. This was not the time to handle the issue with care. I told her point blank that she was full of it and that I've lost more people than she's ever known several times over. She pulled the "Last of my race" card and I countered with "Out of 10000 Angels, only Agreth and I are left, so your village of one to two hundred can piss off." I realize this is quite harsh, and as you can imagine she started getting really mad before I just told her that all losses are hard, but the way she's dealing with them is childish and destructive. I pointed out that she nearly killed the man Leon gave his life to save. _That_ hit her pretty hard. She started crying and repeating "What have I done." To which I corrected "What you _almost_ did" in an effort to get her to see that she could still save her relationships with everyone. She hugged me and asked if I could leave her alone for a bit. I said no. I'd done that before and it didn't turn out too well so I wasn't keen on repeating that mistake. She just nodded along while I talked about Jack and Leon's past and what she could do to earn forgiveness.

I left after a while, having finally settled the issue for myself at least. Now I just have to work with Jack and we can maybe start forgiving each other for our transgressions. It's really up to Jack how much trust he gives back to the woman who decided to rearrange his organs over a reanimated corpse.

Back to today, I decided to check on Jack. He's going to stay at my place indefinitely. I don't really blame him. Kazé's been keeping tabs on him for me when I'm training the others since they're on the same floor. Anyway Jack was getting ready to go on patrol with Chris since Ledah wasn't up for it and Kazé was, while not horribly injured, patching himself up at Ein's and trying to keep moral up. I decided to go with them to help clear my head. As busy as I am, it's nice just to walk around town with friends and relax a bit. After we circled town we went back home, Jack pulling me aside when we arrived. He asked me if I thought he was handling this whole situation with Serene right. I told him there really isn't a right way to handle someone you love trying to gut you and that he should do whatever he thought was right. He kind of nodded, Leon asking if he could help. I said that he clearly could, but he needed to figure out how to do so on his own. He was about to ask something else before I cut him off. I'm a warrior at heart, not the relationship guru everyone seems to take me for. I mean, in 11000 years, I've had one lover, and a few dozen admirers that I never acknowledged. They had a good laugh before going back to their room. I went in to the living area and found Cierra and Chris talking.

I'm glad they get along well. It's almost like Cierra is being motherly to him, despite being significantly younger. It's almost comical at times. The three of us chatted for a bit before I decided to go to sleep early today, Chris saying he'd wake me up with leftovers from dinner when they got back.

Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such great friends and family.

Besides saving their lives and the whole of creation all the time.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em><em>_Also notice I left out the Pure Darkness Generator. That's because that whole thing was dumb. Honestly. VERY dumb. I don't even know where that came from. I mean The Origin is basically God, why can't he make the stuff himself? I may elaborate more on The Origin's nature in ISNO Proper if that ever comes up to explain why a god can fragment like that, but we'll see._


	23. Chapter 23

**Entry 22:**_ Time Off_

_One of the longer entries if I remember correctly, I get into both Agreth and Zero's fighting styles. I can't remember if the game established Mint as rare or not, but for the purpose of a semi-running gag, it is in this story.  
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><p>After extensive preparation, Agreth and I had our all out duel, well as all out as we could go without killing each other. Everyone seemed rather impressed with our display. We even left a nice crater where the field had been before Agreth picked it up and threw it at me. He caught on that rocks can't really get too close to me without being vaporized after the 3rd cubic ton of material failed to do any damage. Agreth has a very wide range fighting style, as opposed to my rather conservative way of fighting. I don't like wasting energy at all so I tend to react more than act, on top of only making attacks when I know for sure I'm going to do damage. But today I took the gloves off and went a little wild. It's nice to be free like that every now and then, sometimes even I forget how destructive I can be.<p>

We spent a good two hours trading blows, hurling massive waves of energy at each other, initiating and extremely localized apocalypse, the like. It was all in good fun. I think I've mentioned this before but I specialize in an extremely powerful force called the Gray. I can use it as an aura to dampen blows I receive as well as strengthen my regular attacks. But that's just standby mode really. My most powerful attacks are in a nice little league of their own. I don't really name my own attacks but my wide range "Annihilate everything in it's wake" move has been dubbed '_Armageddon_' by both Seight and Agreth. I use it mostly in wars to annihilate armies and towns whenever the need arises. Another, named '_Mors Ultima_' by Kazé, is an extremely focused attack that I mostly use on The Origin as a way to inflict hopefully lasting damage on Him fast, without getting hit by any of His counter attacks.

Agreth focuses on the "Wreck everything" Side of fighting. He's been called a one man genocide machine by more than a few people, a roe both of us have been forced to fill more times than I care to remember. Agreth didn't use it, but he said he'd refined his '_Steypt Helviti'_ attack to where it can be used as a single target attack. That would entail a thick lava coating on the target before crushing it with intense gravity, following that up with splitting it in half a few times before finally blowing the whole mess up. He said he refuses to use it on anything he doesn't want to kill and I can see why. Even I'd probably get killed by something like that if I ever got caught in it. It's kind of a horrifying thought really.

Anyway, Agreth's specialization is mostly terrifying brute strength. The way he sees it, if he can do a lot of damage without any techniques or spells, the addition of them would make his attacks kill 100% of the time. And honestly, that's how it works The Origin aside. On top of Earth and Fire, Agreth has some control over gravity. He usually uses this to slow his opponents down or make his swings heavier and easier to bisect things with. Blocking is not recommended when facing down Agreth, he tends to snap conventional weapons even without gravity, and damage even Diviners with it. He's even built like a fortress dressed in his trademark heat resistant plate armor. Defense is another one of his specialties. Conventional weapons can't scratch him and even the most powerful attacks are dampened, however slightly.

I'm more evasive than straight up defensive like Agreth. I'd rather not take blows if I an avoid them, but if I have to a thick wall of Gray will generally deflect any normal attack. The Longinus' cloth also lends itself to defense. It's energy condensed into a fabric so it can be controlled and used to deflect incoming attacks with controlled explosions, on top of it's more offensive uses.

I think it was pretty good therapy for the others to see the two of us show exactly how powerful we are. Everyone at least seemed surprised with how badly we damaged the area, and were impressed we could hold back that kind of destructive might at all. That's a trend with Ancients, when we fight the area we fight in won't exactly be there when we're done, at least, not as it was.

After the festivities drew to a close we decided to leave the land as is. It'll make a fine lake someday. We headed back to town and went our separate ways. Agreth and Serene went off to go train in the secondary field while Chris, Cierra, and I went to the primary field.

I decided to knock out two birds with one stone. In order to expand her potential with magic we have Cierra deal with extremely large quantities of energy. The energy will come from Chris who is practicing on using Gray energy. Although, Cierra wasn't exactly ready for the amount of energy Chris managed to produce. I don't think anyone other than Jack has even seen Gray being used before today so this isn't exactly surprising. She was able to adapt pretty quickly and she's working on a way to deflect any enemy magic with her own. If she figures out how to deflect Gray while practicing she will be able to quite easily survive dealing with anyone who isn't The Origin. Chris is also getting better at generating Gray. It's a combination of him being a quick learner and that other gauntlet I made him speeding things up quite a bit.

Next we switched roles, Cierra focusing on offense and Chris on defense. I finished Cierra's other Staff (Staff of Vidar) and a sword I haven't named yet. I'm not really focusing exclusively on close combat yet but we can if I ever decide to do so. I'm more trying to get Cierra to dual wield two opposing elements. If she can master that she'll be able to use two elements together with ease.

By the time we were done the Sprites from the village were clamoring around Agreth and I. Suppose they saw our battle from town. If that's the case we may have gone a little overboard. Anyway they wanted us to teach them how to fight, or at least defend themselves. Two little kids were by far the most outspoken in their desire to get stronger. I told them I might when they were older but if all else fails anyone from Ein's group can teach them a wealth of fighting techniques at this point. I've got a bit too much on my plate as is to start training towns people, and Agreth isn't one to learn the basics of fighting from.

I decided to head over to Ein's and take a nap on the couch while Fia and them got dinner ready. I was woken early when Cierra attempted cooking and, had I not taken steps to stop it, would have wiped out half the town with an explosion. They said that this is about the 3rd time this has happened and that Cierra is no longer allowed in the kitchen until _someone, _heavily implied to be me, teaches hear how to cook properly. How much information am I going to end up imparting on these people? Fighting, Magic lessons, relationship advice, and now culinary skills? What's next? Fia asking me to teach her how to paint? I guess I should be happy I'm teaching something that will never be used to end life. That will _probably_ never be used to end life I mean. That reminds me, I didn't bring any of my art supplies down from Gersemi. I bet Fia could help me find some unique colored herbs I could use.

I gave my nap another attempt, this time actually making it till dinner was served. When they woke me up Fia remarked how it was weird to see me so relaxed. I joked about how she must have been paying _very_ close attention to my sleeping face. Everyone had gotten in by that point so we all had a nice chat. Agreth and I were a bit drained from our little altercation, but other than that it was just another day. Jack offered to postpone his training session with me if I needed the rest. I told him he wasn't getting out of training that easily. I told everyone that I'd be heading to the springs after our session. I wanted to go after dinner but Agreth had already called it for after dinner, the prick. Fia offered us some mint Reiche had found, _again with the rare stuff, who is this guy?_, for either of us to use. We both declined, smooth skin isn't something I'm terribly concerned with and Agreth even less so. Besides, mint can't smooth out our scars.

Jack and I headed out after that. We're still working on getting his gray production up. He's gotten good enough that he won't kill himself while generating it, but he can't produce as much as Chris. He and Leon will really have to sync up to make producing large amounts easier. Jack also doesn't like using darkness that much, to the point of producing a slight mental block. I don't blame him, but he needs to learn that darkness isn't inherently evil. He's working around the block a bit since he wants to do his part in battle, to make up for losing Leon. I guess nobility runs in the family, along with stubbornness. Not that that's a bad thing, I was plenty stubborn in my youth.

After about an hour or so we called it a night and started home. He talked a bit about what he wants to do after we win against The Origin, asked what I was going to do. It's the first I've thought on the subject. I don't usually plan for what happens after a fight because there's always the chance I could die. When you get to my age you just start playing everything by ear. I told him I didn't have an answer. Lion chipped in that he never was one to plan either.

That reminds me, I've been looking into ways to bind Leon's soul to an artificial soldier. The Magi are bound to have quite a few Grim Angel experiments left over from Hector's machinations. The major problem is that I just don't have the resources to help him here. I guess if we all survive I'll take him and Jack to Asgard and see what we can do from there. I know it's a pessimistic way of looking at things, but it's a hell of a lot easier on me. Especially after everyone I've lost.

I headed to the hot springs after I dropped Jack off. The water was still quite warm from Agreth's soak. I don't know how he keeps the temperature so constant without actually being there. Maybe he melts some rock under the guy's side or something. The heat sure does wonders though. It's nice to just let your fatigue melt away every once in a while. After the... that one time... we instituted a kind of informal schedule. Basically you announce when you want to use the spring during a meal so everyone knows. It keeps the "Oh I didn't know you were in there" incidents down. As for the Undine that lived in the springs before we monopolized it, I'd already cleared out another lagoon near by for her. That bossy fairy who's always with her was pretty happy with it so I guess it was good enough.

I headed home after about 20 minutes and found Agreth, Chris, Cierra, and Kazé hanging out in the living room. Agreth was recounting some war stories and I got pulled into the conversation. They were going on about the Second Holy War and were explaining the concept of Fallen Ones to Cierra. That war feels like such a long time ago. The Origin gathered up a bunch of Ancient ones that had problems with the Magi and instigated a nice little civil war. When The Origin started running out of the newly created Fallen Ones He made one last push into Asgard and decimated everything in His way. He made it a point to burn every village He found and Gersemi just happened to be in His way. Eventually when we pushed Him hard enough He absorbed all the Fallen Ones He had with Him, but even then we managed to beat Him back. There were a lot more Ancient Ones back then to say the least. After regaling Cierra and Chris with slightly exaggerated tales of Agreth and I single handedly winning battles and Agreth bedding every woman he ever laid eyes on except Seight, I decided to call it a night.

On a final note: Agreth and I decided to try and take out one of those spires tomorrow. We decided to rest just in case things get out of hand. Let's hope the retaliatory strike isn't too severe.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>You know Reiche has a stock of mint, magma rocks to heat up the spring, and locks of Ein's hair. I may need to take a shower after writing that. Anyway a bit more hot springs fun, leave it to Zero to ruin all of Ein's misadventures. Oh and training, lots of training. And the part about Leon's soul is referencing the events of one of Yggdra union's endings, and Malice kind of.<br>_


	24. Chapter 24

**Entry 23**_: The Black Obelisk_

_Status update a bit, and elaborating on those spires that weren't even a thing in the first draft. They're a thing in ISNO though. A thing that has yet to be added. I should mention I'm going to revise the first few chapters of ISNO I've already got out, but I won't start over another story, what would it be called, Isno Re:Redux? That's just silly.  
><em>

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><p>We delayed the assault on the spire by an extra day to make absolutely sure Agreth and I were in tip top shape, just in case something did go down. It didn't. In fact nothing went down at all, spire included. I'd assumed magic wouldn't work from the start so our opening move was Agreth chopping it down like a tree. I figured Grimnir, a massive 2 handed ax infused with lava would be able to do the trick. I don't think anyone was more surprised than Agreth when his first swing didn't topple the structure. What followed was a steady drop in optimism. We tried knocking it down with brute force again. When that didn't work I suggested just unearthing the thing. Turns out it goes <em>very<em> far beneath the ground. Then we decided to try and damage or chip it in any way. When that failed Agreth relented and let me take a crack at it with Gray. When that failed we ran out of backup plans. I gave it a thorough inspection with fresh eyes alongside Kazé and Cierra. We theorized that the incomplete ones may not have this stubborn 'complete indestructibility' trait and settled on sending word to Asgard and seeing what they can make of it.

In the end it's going to be the problem of whoever survives the battle with The Origin. If he needs them for his plan then we've got a lot of time. Agreth says the one over by Heaven's Gate isn't any more complete than it was when I saw it.

I pondered the issue during Cierra, Ein, and Fia's mid day training session while working on their holy based techniques. It may be Ein and Fia's preferred element, but if there's one thing I've learned, you can always get better at fighting. I also gave full focus to Cierra's close ranged combat today. She's getting there, still on the lower end of the swordsmanship scale, but she's improving. After the session I went to the Guild with the others following me because, why not? Fia and Cierra ended up being pretty useful so I'm not complaining. We procured a map of the area and plotted the positions of the spires we know about. I'm pretty sure we don't have a complete picture of the spires seeing as the 6 points we have don't really make anything I recognize. Asgard will have to send someone out to map all of Riviera again. It's about time for something like that so it shouldn't be too difficult to convince the Magi.

What bothers me about this is how slow construction is going on these things. If it really is The Origin, production would be going extremely fast. It really looks like the Fallen Ones are behind this plot. If it's really them, another extermination is inevitable.

On a less bleak note, training is going well. I don't really know when we'll find The Origin's castle/base/thing so we're playing training by ear for now. We'll still have the schedule but what we work on during a session is just whatever they feel needs work. I've taught everything we'll need for this last battle, so now we're just perfecting techniques and practicing.

Thinking back to when I first arrived, everyone's come quite a long way. Ein and his lot could barely handle Husks, now they could probably solo Greater Demons with some effort. I guess that should be a given considering how much effort we put into training. If I had more time, there's always more to teach, but for now I don't want to start teaching something new, find The Origin's castle the next day, and have that new thing not be perfected. It'd just confuse people, and we can't have that.

Let's see. Who's grown the most? Ein maybe, Cierra's up there too. Then again it's hard to quantify growth. I suppose Ein's current skill level is furthest from what he used to be. I never figured out how to teach him to use Angel Awakening mode though. It's kind of like trying to teach someone how to breath. It's so simple everyone should know how to do it, but I can't explain it. Inhale, exhale, concentrate your angelic powers on yourself in times of high stress to trigger a spike in overall strength. I guess I just never stressed him out enough. Other than those two Ledah's probably diversified the most. He was already good with the Lorelei so we worked on other things. He's gotten pretty good with that hammer Agreth gave him, and his earth magics are competent enough to cover a few of his weaknesses as a fire based Angel. He can even create some lava. Not the easiest thing to do. Jack's probably gotten the strongest due to how horrifically powerful Gray is. He's also got 3 elements down pat so he's one of our more versatile fighters. Lina deserves some credit too for really taking training seriously. I honestly wasn't too fond of her at first, but the girl's grown on me. She's gotten pretty good with those claws and her speed took a huge jump when Kazé started training her on the side.

Special mention goes to Cierra and Chris due to my blatant favoritism. Cierra's swordsmanship is close to Ein's old level, she's still one of our weaker melee fighters, but that's just because we have people like Agreth, Ledah, and Serene setting the bar. She's also got 3 elements pretty well mastered and, given the right weapon, she can use almost anything. Magically she's only behind anyone capable of Gray, and even then she isn't that far behind. Chris has harnessed the pure destructive power of Gray fairly well. His Holy and Darkness elements now complement each other quite well. He's not quite as good at range as Cierra, but his melee is astounding.

Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer. There hasn't been an attack in a while so right now it feels like we're riding right into the eye of the storm. Agreth might go stir crazy if this keeps up. He has this thing where he has to murder something every few days. If we don't find The Origin's place in a few days- Well. Let's just say I'd feel bad for the any demons Agreth happens upon.

That's about all for now. Just waiting for something a bit more interesting to happen.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>So Zero's feelings kind of mimic my own towards Lina. To be honest the first time I played through Riviera without a guide or anything (Not sure how I won to be honest) I got Lina's ending even though I was trying for Serene. First run through she had the smallest of bit parts, I tried to make it up by giving her a bigger roll and when I started writing her I found she was pretty fun to write for. I think the initial distaste towards her was... Well she tended to get you almost killed a lot in the game due to her "Treasure Hunting." Doing my Let's Play I found that basically ALL of the cast does this at one point or another, Serene ended up being the most endearing to me, but I got Fia's ending.<br>_


	25. Chapter 25

**Entry 24: **_Final Invasion_

_Getting to the endgame here. 3 entries left. I regret not writing this battle. I'm considering going back and doing that for a few of the bigger ones detailed here just because that'd be fun. They'd probably just be bonus chapters but still. I'd probably do this one, the final battle, and maybe a few more. Lemme know what you guys want to see actually written if I decide to go ahead with this.  
><em>

_Edit: In writing out the actual chapter I made a few changes to the battles so I've revised this slightly to reflect those changes. (AND I SOMEHOW FORGOT ABOUT A CHARACTER AND DIDN'T INCLUDE IT IN ANY OF THE FIGHTS SO I FIXED THAT!)  
><em>

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><p>The Origin made one last push to exterminate us on our home turf. He threw everything He had at us. Large army of Husks? Check. Generals? Check. Himself? Check. The Origin headed a division that stormed the main entrance of town. Matok and Zvysok took the west; Dozorca the east, and a revived Scath took the north. Agreth and I didn't take any chances and headed off The Origin ourselves, managed to detect him far enough from town to let us loosen up a bit. Kazé, Jack, and Lina took Dozorca. Chris, Ein, and Fia took Scath. Cierra, Nardi, Ledah, and Serene took Matok and Zvysok.<p>

Agreth and I got to The Origin quickly, and when we did He absorbed every soldier He brought with him. The Origin fights with a fairly large black blade that He usually creates on the spot. It is basically an extension of His arm and as such is ridiculously powerful. The Origin is also the most powerful being alive at this point, but leaving His base makes Him a bit weaker. Not enough to make the fight any less dangerous though. The Origin is a master of every single element, and throws them at random and in rapid succession. Also He doesn't have any weaknesses at all. If you pick an element, He'll counter with it's opposite. That's why Gray works so well, it doesn't have an opposite so you can just hit Him with it. He'll usually default to Darkness. The actual fight was tough, really tough, but not as bad as it should have been. Even so Agreth and I took a few hits. We did return the favor though. Agreth went into Angel awakening and managed to leave a decent sized gash on The Origin's chest, along with a few serious burns. I waited a bit longer than Agreth but I Awakened to pull off a surprise attack which completely removed The Origin's right arm. He did almost cut me in half in retaliation when He switched hands but Agreth was right on Him and we soon forced Him to retreat.

I think we were the last fight to wrap up, unsurprisingly. Fia made her way to us pretty soon after He left. I'd already healed most of the severe damage but it was nice having her there to completely patch us up. She told us that Chris tore the division himself, leaving her and Ein to focus on Scath. His body was darkness based so they pretty much took turns removing chunks of him until he fled.

We regrouped at Fia and Ein's. Nardi, Serene, Kazé, Ledah, and Jack were injured, but none too serious. Serene and Kazé were up and walking pretty quickly. On Kazé's end, Dozorca pulled the same card as The Origin when Jack and Lina annihilated most of his army. He overwhelmed Kazé a bit until the 3 of them forced him to fall back. With Cierra, Nardi and Ledah took Matok and Serene Zvysok while Cierra turned the army to dust before helping Serene out. Nardi and Ledah had a tough fight but Matok fell back as soon as Zvysok retreated, making this a fairly decisive victory.

I think this is the first battle that patrol has noticed far enough in advance to seriously benefit us. If we'd have just randomly went to meet whoever was attacking who knows how badly this battle would have gone. Especially if anyone had followed Agreth or I. Alone, the two of us don't have to hold back on top of not having to protect anyone. We took some serious injuries in the best conditions, if anything else had go wrong one of us could have easily died. Now I'm a little worried about taking the fight to Him. We certainly _tried_ to finish Him off here but His retreat was instantaneous. He just fell into His shadow and was gone. This is why we have to take the battle to him or else He'll just always get away before we can land a deathblow. I'm going to have to get over my fear of going all out near people or the others are just going to have to learn to get back when we're fighting.

Regardless, He did managed to delay our assault on His base. Agreth and I need to rest and everyone else needs to heal. That said, His retreat let me track Him back more or less. It narrowed the location enough to let me find Him right when I started looking. We have the portal linked and ready to go after we finish resting up.

I think I'm going to give one final lesson before we go. I'll teach everyone some basic healing. Just in case. Every little bit helps. Probably should make some elixirs to be on the safe side. I guess there are a few other things I need to take care of before we go.

I'll write before we leave. May be my last entry.

_**-Ø-**_

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><p><em>Kinda bummed here. In keeping with the journal format we're gonna miss the final battle for... reasons that you'd know if you read INO. I wouldn't read it to spoil this because all the entries will be up by next week. Kinda glad to be wrapping this up honestly. It's nice to finish projects every once in a while. Hopefully I can get back to working on ISNO after all this. It's been pretty rough for me for a while so I'm often not really in the mood to write but sometimes it's a good time killer. Thankfully I typed these entries up a while ago.<br>_


	26. Chapter 26

**Entry 25:**_ To Fell The Broken God_

_So. This is where I got a bit frustrated with my format. Ah well, that's what bonus chapters are for. Kinda. Writing anything new has been a bit rough for me lately. I am working on the fight against everything in Entry 24 at least.  
><em>

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><p>Well. Everything is set. Everyone is ready. We all know how this could go. Agreth and I have accepted our fate. We're both ready to die to defeat The Origin. IF we can stop him here this business with the spires and The Fallen Ones can finally be addressed.<p>

Hopefully this will be enough to postpone the possibility of a 5th Holy War long enough for whoever is left to sort it all out.

I'm always at a loss for words nearing the end. One would think after so many _final_ battles, so many suicide missions, I'd be used to this. Honestly, death isn't the hard part. Death is the easy road. Picking up the pieces after accepting death as an inevitability. To keep living after so many fell to ensure your survival. That's harder than dying. I've yet to decide which is more painful though

The plan is to go through and the sprites do most of the heavy lifting through the husks outside. Agreth and I need to conserve our strength. The other Grim Angels will take care of the Generals once we get inside. Against my better judgment, I'm letting Jack and Serene take Scath for closure's sake. Ledah will go after Dozorca, Kazé after Matok, and Ein after Zvysok. Chris is going to save his strength for Gray and Kaze should be able to win his fight easily enough to be at basically full strength after winning.

Hopefully we can blitz through His castle fast enough to keep from getting too worn out. The key to all of this is speed. Quick battles will leave us with the maximum amount of energy left over. If someone is having problems, the others can help. Only Agreth and I are required for the final battle. I hate that I wont be able to go back to save them, but better me being away than The Origin killing them all because I wasn't at full strength.

If this is the end, I think I'm ready. I have a few regrets and will leave a few people behind though. Agreth is probably even more so. He's got nothing left anymore. Just me as an old war buddy and the people related to me. I wonder if I should tell anyone else my real name. If anyone is curious, Chris and Kazé know. I need a good night of sleep tonight, and maybe a dip in the springs. Relaxation is basically impossible as I am but all this tension really isn't going to help.

I'm ready.

Again.

Sorry.

**_Nihil_**

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><p><em>Different closing this time. Zero's heading into another extremely difficult fight. Sadly because of the format it ends here. Kinda. There's 2 more entries so don't think we're done here. This is just Zero's last entry for a while.<br>_


	27. Chapter 27

**After the End**

I'm writing this for the sake of completion. It would be a crime to let the final chapter of my father's life to go unrecorded.

The Assault went well. Dad, Sir Agreth, and I made it through everything quickly, with Uncle Kazé on our heels. I was completely useless against that Devil. The Gray energy didn't work as well as I thought it would. In the end, Dad, Uncle Kazé, and Sir Agreth were the only ones able to stand on It's level.

The battle was completely out of our league. The Dark One's power was unlike anything I've ever seen. It took Uncle Kazé almost immediately. Sir Agreth and Father were able to keep him from killing anyone else, but were unable to finish the fight. In the end, Sir Agreth gave his life to deal a deathblow to that Devil. As soon as it realized what was going on it initiated some kind of dimensional collapse. Dad held a portal open for us but was unable to escape himself.

It has been a few weeks since that battle. I have avoided reading this for all that time. I'm glad that I finally did read though. As much as it pains me, I'm proud to write this as a final send off.

I had two amazing parents.

Thank you.

_**-Chris**_

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><p><em>Little different format to indicate a different writer. This is kind of a look into how angels view The Origin. They won't call him by name, or gender identifying pronouns, instead using "It" or a hateful term. Mostly It's because The Origin has done so much damage to Asgard they all just straight up hate him. There's one more entry coming to address the epilogue, even though this is pretty much an epilogue in of itself. <em>

_Also this is an entry that is definitely getting a written battle, at least for The Origin if not the assault itself. The Final battle is much different than before with the addition of Agreth and the removal of the Pure darkness generator. There's no transformation really, and I've got justification for why The Origin's power spikes so much due to his broken nature I've explained before. I fiddled with how Diviners work, I don't think I explained it before but Diviners were made specifically to combat The Origin and his spawn (read: Demons.) Therefore they're extremely effective against him. I'm rambling again aren't I? Ah well, See ya next Thursday. Or whenever if you read this after Thursday  
><em>


	28. Chapter 28

**Entry 26/27 whatever: **_They Thought I Died_

_Zero gave up on numbering since Chris did an entry so his numbering system got screwed up. Final entry. You ready? I am.  
><em>

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><p>I didn't. It takes a bit more than an entire world being devoured by the void to kill me. But only a little bit more. It took me a good 2 years, but I worked my way through the void and back into Riviera.<p>

I'm different now. The void has altered the makeup of my being after so long. I'm much more proficient in Void energy now, and my holy magic has weakened a bit. Along with a general loss of physical strength through the lack of use of my body.

The reason I couldn't escape with everyone back then was because of a lack of time. If I'd gone through, the void would have come with, and probably destroyed everything on the other side of the portal. Come to think of it, that's probably what The Origin was going for.

Anyway, I landed in Riviera somewhere around Tetyth so it took me a day or so to get back to Elendia. When I did I was spotted first by Fia, who took a few minutes to register what was happening. We went over to my place where I found Nardi and Chris still loafing around. This surprised me a bit since Fia had told me how long I'd been gone. I'd figured they'd returned to Asgard. As a side note, you can't keep time in the void at all. I knew I'd been in there for a while but not a two year long while.

Chris was thrilled to see me. We had a nice group hug and everything. After that I went around town just to let everyone know I was still alive, except Jack. Apparently he left town on a journey of self discovery shortly after we beat The Origin. I ran into him a few weeks later but that's getting ahead of myself. I found Ein. Ledah, and Lina at Fia's place. Serene was on her way home from the graveyard when I ran into her, and Cierra was coming from The Magic Guild with stuff for that night's meal when I found her. Cierra nearly tackled me to the ground, sobbing about how good it was to see me again, or something.

They caught me up with current events at dinner that night. Told me how things hadn't changed much and how everything was peaceful again. Chris and Nardi told me they'd been ignoring the Magi to stay and help the last place I called home. As much as I'd love to do the same my sacrifice has already been bugging the hell out of me, even in the void. Chris, Nardi, and I packed up and left for Asgard a few days after that. It was time to go back to our real home.

The Elendians gave us a nice goodbye and an open invitation any time we were in the area. The three of us made it back to Asgard without incident. I gave my report and they gave me a new mission: Investigate those spires. I decided to include that mission in this journal since it involved immediately turning around and going _back_ to Riviera. Besides they're pretty closely related at this point.

I didn't take anyone with me this time. From what I heard, Chris and Nardi got shipped off pretty quickly themselves. It was a dull mission until I ran into Jack around the ruins of Midgard. He'd just been going around hunting demons and seeing the sights. Apparently Scath tried to rip his soul out but Leon sacrificed himself to save Jack, letting him get the deathblow on Scath. With The Origin out of commission and his army well and truly crushed, I doubt we'll see Scath ever getting revived. I guess that closure thing worked out pretty well. Nobody will ever know Leon was there for the second half of that mission other than Jack, Chris, and I. We traveled together until it was time for me to head back. I took a small detour through Elendia just to say hi before returning to Asgard.

The spires still don't make anything I recognize. There are 11 in total, 5 around Elendia/Yggdrasil and 6 around the whole of Riviera. Of those, only 7 are complete. The rest between half to nearly completed. We were right about the unfinished ones not being indestructible. I managed to break off a piece and brought it back to Asgard for study. I'll have to wait for the results.

Chris gave me back this journal when he got back from his mission, hence my entry being several weeks after I got back. I guess he was holding onto it as a memento or something. I saw that epitaph he added, makes me a proud man.

My worst fears did end up coming true. I'm the last Ancient One, on a level all to myself now. It'll stay that way until I finally die. Not only that, there's not a soul alive other than the Magi that have known me my whole life, and I don't even like _them. _It is a new level of lonely. I think I can deal with it though. I've got an amazing son and a batch of new friends in a new home. I think it's high time I start focusing on the future, their future, a future without strife, wars, and dark gods. I have to help build a world that doesn't need people as powerful as I am.

Isn't that right Seight?

It's time to get to work.

_**N**_

* * *

><p><em>Aaaaand, that's the end of that. Another project kind of over. I say kind of because I'm working on the expanded entries, AKA Bonus chapters, there are probably going to be two or three.<em>

_I'll give thanks for everyone when I get finished with the Bonus Chapters. So yeah. Thanks for sticking with me.  
><em>


	29. Chapter 29

**Entry 24 – Invasion (BONUS)  
><strong>

_So that took forever and a half. Ugh. I wrote the big huge battle first. then added in everyone else fighting in the middle for effect. I don't know why, but Zero/Agreth Vs The Origin and Ein/Fia/Chris Vs Scath didn't trip me up at all but it took ages to write the other two battles. Meh. I'm pretty sure I'll be writing the final entry (What would have been the last couple of chapters) as one big bonus thing if you guys don't mind  
><em>

* * *

><p>Agreth and Zero arrived at the gates of Elendia. Waiting to greet them was a large platoon of Husks which started to wail and shriek at the two's presence. At the head of this force was a silver haired man in a black coat the two instantly recognized.<p>

"Hm." The Origin glanced back at the Husks before returning His gaze to His long time opponents, "I was hoping you would have a few stragglers to protect. This isn't ideal." His frown deepened slightly as he raised his left hand above his head. Zero and Agreth immediately went for their Diviners, expecting the worst. The cries of the Husks intensified as a black aura began to radiate from their bodies, converting them into energy before being gathered in The Origin's open palm. The entire army thus consumed, The Origin absorbed the sphere of black energy, his own aura spiking.

"Kuh. Why even bring them in the first place?" Zero muttered, slightly taken aback by his opponent's actions.

"They are tools to be used Nihil. In this situation, becoming part of me is the best way to use them. Without this one or two would be lucky to slip by in the chaos but that's far from optimal. No. This is much better. No wasted energy on things that can barely fight back." Holding His right hand in front of Him a large black blade materialized from The Origin's aura, returning it to it's natural state.

"I ain't seeing a flaw in 'is reasoning Nil," Agreth spoke up, gathering flames to his Diviner, "'sides, now we don't have to split our focus."

"Good to see some things never change." Zero chuckled, tightening his grip on the Longinus. "You ready?"

"'Course I am. Let's do this!" Agreth charged with all his might swinging his Diviner with enough force to push the Origin back when He defended the strike. The sheer heat from the ax was enough to start searing The Origin's flesh just by being close to Him. The Broken God pushed back, returning Agreth's might and then some, forcing the Diviner safely away from His body before swinging His own weapon in an attempt to end the fight in an instant. Agreth managed to dash back, avoiding the attack all together as Zero leaped into the fray, jumping over Agreth and bringing his trident down in an effort to split The Origin in two, instead striking The Origin's weapon and being pushed off to the side.

"Let us sound the trumpets which count down to this world's annihilation," The Origin smiled, his shadow rising up to protect him as the two Ancients attacked again. The black miasma twisted and split into several tendrils which lashed out at the two, forcing them to fall back. The shadow faded, The Origin chuckling lightly, swinging His blade and launching a stream of darkness which sped towards Zero, barely missing as the Angel dodged to the left. The Ancient retaliated with a wave of holy, the Longinus letting out a soft hum as the light raced forward before being split in two with a flick of The Broken God's wrist.

"Screw yer damn trumpets," Agreth took to the forefront again, The Origin dodging back causing The Volcanic Angel's Diviner to slam into the ground. Flames erupted from the split earth shooting towards The Origin. The God slammed his own weapon into the ground frost rushing out in a massive wave to meet the flames, the two attacks neutralizing each other in a huge plume of steam. Agreth bolted through the steam, his form glowing slightly as he shifted into Angel Awakening mode while swinging Grimnir, giving The Origin no time to block. The flame shrouded Diviner tore The God's chest open, a large gash extending from His left hip to His right shoulder, the flames searing His flesh. Skidding to a halt The Origin held His blade horizontally, a black sphere forming at it's midpoint before being launched at Agreth. The Sphere was engulfed in a wave of Gray, detonating it before it got too close. Despite this, the two Ancients still had to jump back a ways to make sure they weren't caught in the massive blast.

"Careful there." Zero called out, readying his Diviner.

"Aye aye chief," Agreth swung his weapon again, creating a gust of wind which cleared the smoke that obscured their foe. The Origin stood on the opposite end of the newly formed crater, five magic circles floating around Him. With a gesture of His left hand the circles flew towards the Ancients, two targeting Zero, the remaining Agreth. When they got close enough they each fired a black beam in sequence as the Ancients dodged, the two avoiding all of the attacks. The Origin's brow furrowed as He watched their agility thwart his latest efforts, His wound slowly repairing itself.

"I must say. You two have improved somewhat. I suppose you must be angry for what I did to the last Ancient that paid me a visit," The Origin shook his head, "What was her name?"

"Seight." Zero's grip tightened on his weapon, his knuckles going white.

"Oi, Nil, can't have ya losin' it here." Agreth called out to his partner, his voice betraying his own anger.

"I know." Zero gritted his teeth, charging his foe while Gray energy seeped from his Diviner. When Zero was within striking range a black dome immediately encased both he and The Origin, shattering the instant after it had fully formed. The shards of the dome flew towards Agreth who defended with a wall of fire. Despite this a few of the larger shards made it through leaving Agreth with some minor cuts. Zero stumbled back, his left arm and shoulder sporting a gash from having to quickly defend himself. Zero swung the Longinus, discharging the gathered Gray energy in a wave which flew towards his nearby foe. The Origin leaped over the attack, quickly locking weapons with Zero as he landed, pushing the Ancient back with several quick swings of his black great sword. The ground under The Origin's feet lurched up, causing Him to stumble back as the earth quickly swallowed him, a plume of lava shooting from the ground under Him. The molten earth was quickly solidified by a massive burst of Ice, The Origin breaking free and taking to the air.

"I'll give you both credit. I never would have thought only two angels would be a match for me, even in my current state." The God smirked, again creating the five magic circles with a broad swing of his left arm. "I wonder how your friends are doing against my troops."

Zero was strangely silent at this remark, seemingly lost in thought.

* * *

><p>Ein, Fia, and Chris faced down a sizable group of Husks, headed by a figure clad in tattered black clothing.<p>

"Hey," The figure snickered, "Long time no see." Scath held his hand out before him, a scythe materializing from the darkness around him. The General rested the weapon on his right shoulder as he glanced at the 3. "I was kind of hoping to fight Jack or his little girlfriend, but I guess you'll do."

"Haven't you made them suffer enough?" Fia shouted, her rapier drawn and ready.

"No. No I haven't. I'll _never_ be able to make them suffer enough!" Scath's insane grin once again worked it's way across his face.

"Ein, Fia, you deal with Scath, I've got the Husks." Chris tightened the straps of his gauntlets, which quickly erupted in black and white flame.

"You sure?" Ein raised an eyebrow.

"Yes sir,"

"Alright. Be careful."

"Always." Chris charged past Scath, the darkness and holy energies of his weapons mixing, triggering a large explosion which took out the majority of the Husk's front line.

"Feh- Useless little pests," Scath shrugged, "Then again, I seem to recall a time when they weren't quite so useless. Let's see if you've gotten any better!" The newly corporeal general charged the duo, being immediately met with two powerful holy attacks, "Ok maybe a blind charge wasn't my best plan." Scath retreated slightly. Fia approached from the right, the Vanaheimr letting off a dim glow as it struck at Scath, the general parrying with his scythe. He only managed to deflect two of Fia's attacks before a Disaresta knocked him off his feet, the general rolling to a stop a few yards back. Scath got up quickly, the right side of his torso and shoulder burned badly, his already pitch black skin peeling away, revealing a semi solid form of darkness underneath.

"Let's end this quick, I'm sure someone is going to need you to heal them." Ein took a quick glance in the direction of Elendia's entrance, seeing several plumes of smoke from The Origin's battle with the Ancients.

"You worried about them too?" Fia didn't take her eyes from their opponent, watching wearily as he began gathering energy to his weapon.

"Yeah." Ein nodded, returning his attention to Scath.

"If I were you I'd worry more about yourselves than the soon to be dead," The General charged them, unleashing a wave of darkness with the swing of his scythe. Ein and Fia both returned the favor with their own holy attacks, completely neutralizing Scath's assault before meeting him head on, Ein quickly locking weapons with the abomination. Fia took this momentary standstill and stabbed Scath's left leg before detonating some of the residual holy energy wrapped around her weapon, nearly removing Scath's leg entirely. Darkness quickly filled in the wound, leaving his leg slightly skinnier than it had been, the General taking a swipe at the Sprite with his clawed left hand as his body repaired itself.

"Don't even think about hurting Fia," Ein roared, increasing the pressure on Scath.

"Oh? What are you gonna do about-" Scath was interrupted by a massive pillar of holy completely enveloping the two. Scath let out a sickening shriek as he leaped from the center of Ein's attack, running directly into an attack from Fia, blowing a hole in his torso. Again, his new body compensated for the injury, filling in the damage done by his two opponents. Scath let out a grunt as Ein once again locked weapons with him, this time forcing Scath's scythe to the side before breaking free and slashing him across the torso. Scath swore through gritted teeth as he attempted to fall back, finding his backup of a few hundred husks completely decimated. "_Shit!_" Scath shouted upon seeing Chris charging him, Gray energy seeping from his Diviner. The 3 defenders of Elendia attacked at the same time, unleashing an absolutely devastating blast of Holy and Gray upon the outclassed Greater Demon. When the combined attack subsided the three saw there was barely anything left of Scath, who was now rapidly disintegrating. "You've gotta... be kidding me..." Scath muttered as he disappeared from the battlefield.

"Chris, why don't you head to my house so you can do some basic first aid while I make sure Zero and Agreth are alright," Fia gestured in the general direction of her home.

"Yes ma'am," The child Ancient nodded rushing off in that direction.

"I'm not worried about Lina since she's with Kazé, but Serene and them may need backup..." Ein turned to Fia, sheathing his Diviner on his back before the two dashed off in opposite directions.

* * *

><p>"This could be trouble," Nardi popped his neck, his Diviner resting on his right shoulder. He, Cierra, Ledah, and Serene gazed upon the gathered soldiers, lead by Matok and Zvysok.<p>

"I got Zvysok," Serene stepped forward, the General shifting his gaze to the last Arc.

"So be it," The Greater Demon shifted his weight, readying his large halberd.

"Hah, I suppose I'll take the magic user and the angels," Matok chuckled, his spear resting in his off-hand.

"Nah, you're only getting angels," Nardi and Ledah stepped forward, "Mind takin' the Husks my dear?"

"Certainly," Cierra nodded, her staff already radiating a fair amount of energy as she rushed past her friends and the Generals themselves.

"I have no hope that you'll be able to sate my thirst, sprite. However, you are welcome to try," Zvysok charged with surprising speed, slamming his weapon into Serene's, forcing the Arc to take a step back to steady herself. Nardi gave one last sideways glance to Serene before charging his own opponent, quickly leaping over a wave of Void. Nardi hung in the air, his black wings shedding a few feathers as they flapped to support the red head's weight.

"Let's see how long it takes for your power to fade," Matok fired a blast of darkness from his left hand, Nardi dodging to the right, another blast forcing him to the ground. The Unbalanced Angel's Diviner let out a red wave which tore through the ground towards it's target, Matok stabbing the attack with his Ziegtem, blowing the red energy apart from within. The General was immediately met with another wave, one he barely managed to block in time. A third wave struck Matok's right shoulder forcing the general to take a few steps back as he inspected the damage.

"How 'bout we don't wait long," Nardi radiated his destructive energy, entering Angel Awakening mode, "Hey Ledah, if Serene's in trouble, save her, I've got this."

"I think it would be best if we finished this quickly then both helped Serene," Ledah brandished his spear, flames leaking from the Diviner.

"I don't appreciate being taken so lightly," Dark blue energy flaked from Matok's injury as it began repairing itself. The General let loose several spheres of a similar blue energy, detonating them when they drew close to his opponents. The red haired one weaved between the blasts, attempting to close the distance between him and his enemy, only to find Matok had taken to the air. A large sphere of energy crashed into Nardi from above, exploding on contact. Before Matok could celebrate his temporary victory, Ledah blasted him out of the sky with a wave of fire. Matok landed opposite his previous position, assessing his injuries and watching black smoke rise from the ground. Nardi quickly emerged from the smog, light burns littering his body. The Angel slammed his Diviner into Matok, shattering the General like glass. Nardi ducked just in time to avoid Ziegtem tearing through his head. Ledah stepped in and with a single thrust launched a conical blast of flames, striking Matok in his right side and forcing him to take several steps back before having to lock weapons with the red haired angel. "Kh, you're both doing quite well. You've surpassed most of my previous observations."

"I guess that means we can kick your ass then," Nardi put more force behind his Diviner.

"Not quite, I'm sure you noticed, but your power has just taken a bit of a dive. Even if it hadn't, I still wouldn't have had too much trouble disposing of you," Matok forced Nardi back a ways. The General took a step before a fireball slammed into his back, forcing him to the ground. "I guess I'll deal with you _now_."

* * *

><p>"Barely enough." Zvysok muttered, the two warriors panting lightly.<p>

"Not done yet!" Serene swung her scythe, frost creeping across the ground at a surprising rate. The General responded by slamming his halberd to the ground, creating a shock wave which shattered the ice before charging the Arc. The two opponents locked weapons, Serene's scythe leaving a small cut on the General's forearm. Twisting himself from her scythe's grip, Zvysok slammed his Vasen into Serene's weapon, the strength of the blow forcing her back. "Feh, you're a tough one aren't you?"

"Stronger than you. At least this time you're only fighting me. The last time we met, you were busy slaughtering your own companions," Zvysok's cold eyes nearly bore a hole through the final Arc. She powered through the bad memories, calling out as she swung her weapon.

"Serene Infinite!" Solid ice spiked up from the ground. Zvysok leaped over the frost, swinging his weapon at the Arc. He was stopped short when the ice rose up and encased him, forming a large pillar. Serene swung her scythe again, the ice shattering, shards pelting the General. Zvysok landed right in front of Serene, battered, but seemingly no worse for wear. Until a large chunk of ice crushed him to the ground. There was a low rumble as the chunk of ice fractured before being lifted and destroyed. His eyes scanned the field before him, Serene having moved out of his field of vision while he was distracted. He noticed movement to his left and lashed out with Vasen, being met with a fireball exploding as it struck his weapon. As he stumbled back from the shock Serene attacked from above, her scythe embedding itself in Zvysok's fist as he punched the blade, keeping it from inflicting a more serious injury. "The hell?" Serene muttered, having never been met with such a defense. The General quickly freed his hand, grabbing her weapon and pulling her to the ground. He swung his halberd, leaving a light cut in Serene's left side. With a quick application of extreme force she twisted her weapon from Zvysok's hands, swinging wildly to get him to fall back. The General took a single step back before locking weapons with the Arc.

"You fight well, for someone your age," Zvysok gave a small smile before being pelted with another fireball. This time he turned to see Cierra casting another spell, having already annihilated the Husks. "You however," he glared at the Scarlet Witch, "Are annoying."

"How about I reduce you to ashes." Cierra brandished her staff.

"You can try." The General returned his attention to Serene, yanking his weapon back, bringing Serene with, before lashing out with his left, smashing his fist into her stomach. The Arc buckled, coughing as she stumbled to the side. Zvysok charged Cierra, being met with a small meteor. The attack was enough to blast him back, leaving several moderate burns on his arms from where he defended himself. "Not enough." Zvysok broke out into a dead sprint, but before he could get close he ran into Serene's scythe, which tore into his left side, leaving a deep gash.

"Repayment in kind," Serene smirked as the General stopped in his tracks.

"I like the way you think. Let's enjoy this."

* * *

><p>Matok skidded back, Ledah having slammed his Hammer into Ziegtem. The General quickly dodged a wave of red energy which would have likely left him seriously burned.<p>

"You two are stronger than I projected," He scoffed, "Killing you as I am now is going to take more effort than I'm willing to expend, but... Orders are orders." Matok's spear began to give off a black wispy energy before unleashing a wave of void, tearing anything it touched apart. The two angels unleashed their most powerful attacks in an effort to fill the void, managing to clear all of it. However, Matok was quick to attack again, rushing forward and nearly skewering Nardi, the angel only being saved by his quick reflexes, turning a fatal injury into a glancing blow. The General's left hand crossed his body as he fired on Ledah with several ice based spells, the Crimson Angel quickly incinerating these attempts to do him harm. Matok then lashed out with void, forcing Ledah into the air. Ledah quickly replaced his hammer with the Lorelei before he was met, mid-air, with Matok's spear. Again, the blow was deflected, leaving a light cut on Ledah's right shoulder as the angel parried, slamming the General to the ground. The General arched his back, pulling himself up from the powerful blow with a smile on his face.

"Let's go Ledah," Nardi charged the General.

"Right." Ledah nodded, launching a pair of fireballs which trailed Nardi.

"I'll show you the power of the void!" Matok's aura exploded outward, Nardi leaping back, the fireballs flying past him and slamming uselessly into the pitch black aura.

* * *

><p>Zvysok paused, taking a glance back at Matok before Serene again slammed her scythe into his weapon.<p>

"This is getting troublesome." He repelled Serene's next strike taking a step back into a blast of ice.

"Serene now!" Cierra shouted, their stunned opponent glancing back and forth between his two adversaries.

"Memento Mori." Serene held her blade above her head. Taking a swift step forward and swinging, she managed to leave a deep gash across Zvysok's chest, piercing his armor. In the scythe's wake ice began to quickly form and expand outward trapping the General. "Thanks Cierra." Serene took a step back, using her scythe as support as she caught her breath. There was a loud explosion as black energy tore across the ground, Ledah hitting the dirt and rolling, focusing his power to his void covered shoulder until the wispy blackness subsided, leaving behind eroded flesh.

"Ledah you ok?" Cierra shouted before quickly turning her attention to Matok. The General had been knocked from the sky once again. Upon impact with the ground Nardi slammed his claymore through the General's sternum. The Grim Angel's arms and left side were all eroded, blood spilling to the ground as the Angel struggled to maintain consciousness.

"Kh... It's time..." Matok coughed, slipping into his own shadow as the Ice trapping Zvysok shattered from the damage caused by Matok's attack.

"Sorry." Zvysok gave one last look towards his opponents, "I was ordered to return alive. Maybe next time." With a light chuckle the General disappeared into darkness.

"Cierra, you can heal a bit right?" Ledah got to his feet, "I'm not too badly hurt. Focus on Nardi."

"Right." Cierra rushed off to the red haired angel, who had already collapsed, his Angel Awakening fading.

"Let's get him back to the house." Serene spoke up, panting lightly.

"Agreed."

* * *

><p>"Hmmm..." Dozorca pondered the proper response to the 3 warriors standing before him. Kazé immediately drew his Diviner, ready for whatever the General threw at them. "How tragic."<p>

"What's he on about?" Jack gave a sideways glance to Kazé, "Why aren't they attacking?"

"No idea. Just be ready for anything."

"Lina doesn't like this..."

"Oh how I wish one of the Ancients had come to meet me. I could be more like His brilliance fighting against one of them... No matter. If I defeat you quickly I can go be by His side once more!" Dozorca gestured dramatically as he spoke, the husks shrieking as they were broken down and absorbed.

"Am I the only one disturbed by this?" Jack kind of stared as the General consumed his troops.

"What? The absorption of the husks or the man crush on the Orig-"

"The man crush."

"You never get used to it either."

"Oh joy." Jack readied his own Diviner, the scythe shining with holy energy.

"Lina, Jack, I'm just gonna go in and try to finish this quick. If it starts dragging on, you can help, but be careful. This guy is weird and creepy as hell but he is by no means a pushover." Kazé darted forward with insane speed.

"I have orders to kill as many as I can. I will not leave without your heads!" Dozorca drew both of his blades, unleashing a maelstrom of fire which threatened to engulf Kazé. The Arcane Angel surrounded himself with a small tornado, drilling through the flames and dispelling them entirely. The tornado continued after Kazé stopped to change directions forcing Dozorca back a few feet but doing no damage. A bolt of lightning arched it's way from the General's rapier towards Kazé, who managed to dodge the attack and retaliate with a razor thin wave of energy, leaving a scratch in Dozorca's armor. "Nimble little pest aren't you? But you don't seem to-" Dozorca was interrupted by a sharp blast of wind, striking him so hard that it flung him into the air, leaving cracks in his white armor from the sheer force of impact. The General righted himself mid-air, facing his opponent as Kazé flew towards him. Dozorca flung a small wave of darkness at his aggressor, the attack being nullified by a small tornado which began forming around Kazé as he shot forward. The Arcane Angel's Diviner slammed into The General's weapons, creating a small shower of sparks as they ground against each other. Dispelling the cyclone surrounding him Kazé launched several other spells simultaneously, Fire, Ice, Lightning and wind all blasting Dozorca from the air. The General landed with a thud, the ice covering his right shoulder shattering on impact.

"Hmph. I guess I'll have to use ugly means to defeat you." Dozorca muttered to himself, watching as Kazé shot towards him. The General swung his broadsword, flinging a large mass of darkness at the approaching Arcane Angel. This attack was quickly followed up with a piercing blast of holy, fired straight through his previous attack. The two elements reacted on contact creating a large explosion of Gray. The volatile energy struck both Kazé and Dozorca, nearly crushing the General into the ground and blasting Kazé further into the sky. "Such imperfection..." Dozorca pulled himself up dropping the rapier in his left hand so he could brush the dust from himself. "No matter." He looked skyward, "It seems you were not enough to stand against such might..."

"Eat this!"

"Hm?" Dozorca turned too late to block a slash from Jack, his diviner tearing into the General's left forearm. "How dare you!" He reared back with his broadsword before noticing several shadows shooting towards him. Glancing up he noticed a small hail of arrows charged with lightning hurtling towards him. "Away with you!" He unleashed another wave of darkness which consumed many of the arrows, a few making it to the ground and unleashing their stored electricity, briefly stunning the General. This was all the time Jack needed, forcing both holy and darkness to occupy the same space around his Diviner, he again attacked, Gray energy launching from his weapon in a massive concentrated wave. Dozorca could only inflate his aura in an effort to dull the attack, which quickly enveloped him. The Gray energy soon lurched upward, sailing harmlessly into the sky before detonating.

"You got my back Lina?" Jack began charging another attack, frost flowing from his Diviner

"Of course! I never miss!" Lina gave a thumbs up to the Grim Angel before returning her attention to the smoldering wreck that was their opponent.

"Hnk... That was... How?..." Dozorca pulled himself to his feet. His armor had been reduced to almost nothing in that attack, his forearms badly burned from where he had tried to protect himself. "No matter... I can still..."

"What die?" Kazé landed behind Dozorca, slamming him in the back with a powerful mixed elemental blow. The blow to his spine sent the General tumbling forward, righting himself before being set upon by Jack. In one quick motion Dozorca whirled around releasing a surge of darkness in all directions, forcing his opponents back a ways. Holding his left hand out, he called for his rapier, the weapon returning to him in a blur of motion.

"Not enough. I will not allow myself to be beaten by you lesser Angels." The General spat out, his aura flaring up once again. Kazé didn't give him time, quickly unleashing a flurry of blows into the General's broadsword which managed to block many of the attacks. Jack followed Kazé, attacking from Dozorca's other side but being intercepted by the General's rapier. "Kh. I've had enough of you." With one quick motion Dozorca had forced both his attackers back while unleashing a ring of holy energy to keep them pinned down. He was quickly struck in the back by several arrows, the final of which was charged with enough energy to pierce him entirely. Before he could turn towards his new aggressor he heard a crack as the holy energy was dispelled, Kazé flying towards Dozorca. The General ducked, Kazé sailing over him, landing between the Greater Demon and the sprite.

"You won't kill anyone here." Kazé said, his diviner glowing as he entered Angel Awakening mode.

"I do not see how you could stop me from killing." Dozorca held his blades out to his sides, holy and darkness gathering. He swung his weapons, the two energies leaping from his blades and twisting together. Kazé put every bit of energy he had into defending as Gray began to erupt forward, enveloping him completely, but being split enough to where it hurtled past Lina, exploding uselessly behind her. "Return to dust. Maybe my master forge what's left of you into flies," Dozorca chuckled to himself, completely failing to notice the frost which now covered the ground around him. "Hm? What's-"

"Frieren Zerbrechen!" Jack roared, freezing the General in a large block of ice before cleaving it in two and finally shattering it completely. The attack left a large gash across Dozorca's chest, and sent him flying back.

"Pest!" Dozorca regained his footing, readying his blades before being stabbed in the back. "You! You're still!"

"I've been practicing with the guy who basically invented Gray energy for hundreds of years. You're going to have to do way better than that to beat me." Kazé smirked, using a small tornado to blow a hole in the General.

"Kuh..." He stumbled forward, black flames seeping from his body. "This. Don't think this has changed your fate Angels. One day, you will all feel his warmth. His rage. His wrath will take your lives. Count on it." With that Dozorca fell into darkness, which soon faded from the field.

"You alright Kazé?" Jack approached the Arcane Angel.

"I've seen better days. Gray is always a pain to get hit with... Uh. Can I get a bit of help back to Ein's?" Kazé nodded, realizing that he had spent most of his energy during the fight.

"Yeah." Jack hoisted his elder up.

"Lina will help too!" The child like sprite ran towards the two battered Angels.

"Hah. Thanks."

* * *

><p>"They'll be fine. I know they can handle anything that isn't you." Zero spoke up, wrapping a portion the cloth of the Longinus he'd torn free around his injured arm, "I believe in them."<p>

"Yeh, I mean, we've been trainin' 'em ourselves, 'course they can hold their own," Agreth nodded, his aura still radiating a red glow.

"That's good. At least I'll be able to have a little fun with them when the two of you fall before me." The Origin swooped down, the magic circles going off in different directions. The God locked weapons with Agreth, Zero charging towards Him before being fired upon by two beams, a third striking Agreth from behind. The Origin pushed the hulking angel to the side as He turned preparing to slice Zero in half. He was met with the Longinus piercing His right arm and tearing through His shoulder. A blast of Gray completely obliterated the appendage, The Origin's blade falling as Zero readied the finishing blow. Before the black blade could touch the ground The Origin caught it, immediately countering by nearly slicing Zero in two. Had he not been in Angel Awakening mode, with it's dense aura protecting him, the strike would have been fatal.

"Guh." Zero fired the charged energy despite his injury. The Origin was unable to hold His ground when the blast collided with His blade, forcing Him to the side. Agreth approached from behind The God launching a wave of fire before He could even regain His footing, the wave carrying Him into a nearby rock formation.

"Y'alright there chief?" Agreth glanced at Zero, who was busy trying to heal himself back to fighting shape.

"Give me a minute." Zero grunted.

"Donno if we got that much time," Agreth gestured to The Origin, who had picked himself up from the flames surrounding him. The God's body was burned but He was still radiating a large amount of power. The Origin glanced at the burned stub of his right arm, darkness flowing from the wound, shaping itself as a temporary replacement for his lost limb. "Y'up for round 2?" Agreth went ahead with his charge, flames trailing from his Diviner as he approached his enemy. The Origin held His artificial hand out front, firing a blast of darkness from his palm. Agreth dodged to the right, only to be met with a blast of ice. The Volcanic angel launched another wave of fire in response, the two once again neutralizing each other in another cloud of steam. Agreth swung his weapon, with enough force to create a small tornado before lighting it, sending the swirling mass of fire to clear the cloud as well as catch his opponent off guard. The tornado of flame was met with a black fist, The Origin enlarging His right arm in order to properly disperse the attack, the arm returning to it's original size immediately after the tornado disappeared.

"If anything, your resolve is beautiful. Fighting me despite all your losses and your continued injuries. Allow me to show you the fate of those who oppose me," The Origin's eyes narrowed as His blade began radiating light. With a swing of His blade The God launched a titanic wave of energy at His opponents, the two Ancients taking to the air to dodge. They were immediately met head on by a now black winged Origin, who swung His blade, unleashing a thin horizontal line which moved at high speed. Zero and Agreth managed to put their Diviners between themselves and the attack, sparks flying from them as they ground up against the God's blast.

"Che" Agreth split the attack, breaking it in it's entirety before launching himself at The Origin, purple energy radiating from his weapon. The Origin chose to dodge the strike, moving to Agreth's right before Zero charged in himself, Longinus slamming into The Origin's blade, sending the God crashing right into the ground, creating a nice sized crater on impact. Before He could even get up Agreth smashed his enemy with his still glowing weapon, the purple energy enveloping The Origin causing Him to be crushed further into the ground. Struggling against the intensified gravity, The Origin attempted to sit up, a blast of Gray quickly enveloped Him, Agreth leaping back to avoid the massive explosion which followed. A pitch black pillar shot from the smoke and debris, clipping Zero's left elbow as he moved to the side, causing a light burn. The pillar split, two streams of darkness snaking their way towards Agreth, who defended, quickly being swallowed by the shadows. The black energy was blown away with one mighty swing of Grimnir, Agreth also being lightly injured by the attack.

"It'd be real nice if y'stayed down after a hit like that," Agreth shook his head, the ground around him heating to the point of distorting light.

"I am not something easily killed Ancient. I am-" The Origin started, before being interrupted by Zero stabbing Him in His left shoulder with a fast downward thrust. The Origin whirled around, nearly yanking the primordial Diviner from Zero's hands before slamming the Ancient with His replacement right arm. Zero staggered back, coughing up a large amount of blood due to the second hit of an, already quite serious, injury. Agreth didn't let The Origin repeat this act, his Diviner embedding itself deep within The Origin's back. There was no yelp or flinch to indicate the God was in pain, instead responding with His shadow quickly rising and impaling Agreth's gut. The Volcanic Angel ignored the injury, tearing his weapon free from the God before moving to strike again. Before the freshly spilled blood of The Origin could touch the ground He was hit simultaneously by the two Ancients, The Longinus piercing his torso and Grimnir nearly slicing The God in half. The two were blown back by an immense wave of holy energy, both weapons tearing free, the new damage rendering Him unable to stand. The Origin took a knee, breathing heavily as he glared at His opponents. Blood flowed freely from the various wounds littering His body, bursting into a black flame as it touched the ground.

"Let's end it here!" Zero shouted, picking himself up and charging.

"Aye, Let's." Agreth nodded, rushing the God from the opposite direction.

"End? The only end to be had here is yours," The Origin forced Himself to his feet, raising His blade over His head as best he could with His left arm in such bad shape. In bringing down His black blade The Origin released a large wave of black energy in a wide arc in order to catch both His aggressors in one attack. The Two blocked as best they could, the darkness eating away at their exposed flesh, leaving significant burns on both of the two's hands. Struggling through the pain, Agreth moved in for one final blow, his Diviner tearing through the air before slamming into The Origin's blade once more. Zero was met with the God's artificial arm attempting to grab him by the head and throw him back. The Ancient swung his Diviner, destroying the offending arm in one holy enhanced attack. Before The Origin could reform his limb he noticed the pressure from Grimnir was no longer against his blade, dodging to the side just in time to avoid Agreth's downward chop. The Origin's knee buckled when he landed to Agreth's right, black energy flaking from his entire body. "Already?" he muttered to himself, Zero closing in with his Diviner wrapped in Gray.

"Disappear," Zero swung, Gray energy leaping from his trident and colliding with the God, who disappeared in the small sea of Gray before it detonated. Agreth again cleared the smoke with a single swing, revealing a barely standing Origin. His left arm had been completely obliterated, the bones of his left leg exposed and the left side of his face being nothing but a black skull. The Origin let out a dull hiss before his shadow rose, enveloping him and fading away, leaving no trace of the God's presence.

"Phew, Y'alright over there Nil?" Agreth let out a sigh of relief, wiping his brow with his left hand while returning his Diviner to the straps on his back.

"I've been better, you?" Zero took a knee.

"Eh. Coulda gone worse," Agreth shrugged.

"Zero? Agreth?" Fia called out as she came into view of the two, the sight of the devastated land causing her to pause, "What?"

"Ol' Origin happened. This's how most of our fights go," Agreth gave a dismissive gesture, "we can always fix it up later. Y'mind patching Z up? He's kinda um... Uh... He's seen better days."

"You're telling me." Zero coughed not moving much as his body attempted to repair itself.

"Let's just get you into good enough shape to move back to the house where we can have you better... Treated." Fia paused as she examined the very serious injuries Zero had sustained.

"Sound's good love," Agreth leaned against a new outcropping of stone.

-End

* * *

><p><em>The fun thing is that I started working on this basically as soon as I finished it and I'll probably publish it a day after I finish it so I can go over it one last time and make sure the bits I wrote a month or two apart fit together. The only place this will be a problem is in NardiLedah/Serene/Cierra's battle since I stopped about half way through then came back to it after a large period of drama induced writer's block._

_I have no idea when I'll get the next bonus chapter out. It's harder to write these things than the standard entry and I'm not exactly in the writing mood lately but I really REALLY want to get these done. Ah well. See you next time for the last chapter. I'm serious this time._


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